


who knows where this road may go?

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: is there a way back home? [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Credit to MuffinLance for the Water Tribe OCs & Zuko's crew, Earthbender Jin (Avatar), Fluff, Gen, Goose-goat hybrid returns, Hakoda Adopts Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh Adopts Zuko (Avatar), Jet (Avatar) Is An Asshole, Jet (Avatar) Lives, Kustaa (MuffinLance) is ALSO a Good Uncle, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Parental Hakoda (Avatar), Self-Indulgent Mess Part III, They Can Coexist, Unreliable Narrator(s), Zuko (Avatar) Gets a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) Is ALSO An Asshole, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, they are assholes to each other, which is the foundation of their friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 44,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28266636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: Zuko has been reunited with Uncle. Hakoda is on his way to find Zuko and his captured crewmembers. Jet is a walking crisis. What could go wrong?Sequel and direct continuation of 'like a comet pulled from orbit'.
Relationships: Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Hakoda & Jet (Avatar), Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Jet & Jin & Zuko (Avatar), Jet & Zuko (Avatar), Jin & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Hakoda's Crew, Zuko (Avatar) & Original Character(s)
Series: is there a way back home? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937566
Comments: 905
Kudos: 648





	1. 1; 'family reunions. so heartwarming — PUT THAT KNIFE DOWN!'

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to MuffinLance for the Akhlut and its crew and the crew of the Wani, + Scuttles & Sushi. Credit to Vathara for the Wani's name
> 
> Title is from 'Journey to the Past' from Anastasia

Zuko had been gone for a _while,_ and Toklo was getting a _little_ bit worried for him. 

He'd recognized that soldier. In Toklo's experience, if Zuko recognized someone, it was because they were part of his Awful Past. Soldier Guy's reaction had seemed exasperated, but maybe the Fire Nation had different mannerisms and he was angry or something. 

That might explain why Zuko scowled so much — was that a friendly greeting in the Fire Nation?

_Nah, probably not._

Toklo returned to pacing. The soldier who'd brought them on deck last night was watching him and Jet while she played cards with another crewman. From the amount of cards in her hand, she was probably losing. 

"Five tens," she said, laying down her cards, and the other soldier groaned, throwing down her hand. The first one smiled, dragging the small pile of coins on the table toward her. "Pleasure playing with you." 

The other soldier gave her a sour look. "I quit." 

"Have fun, sore loser," she said, scooping her winnings into a bag. "I'll just be here. Enjoying my victory while you mope." 

Toklo huffed. He didn't _like_ this. Zuko was one thing — Zuko was a kid, _Sokka's_ age, of course _he_ acted like a person. But Fire Nation soldiers weren't supposed to be so _human_. 

_Especially_ not after one of them had just taken his _little brother_ off to _who-knows-where,_ where they might at this moment be doing something horrible to him.

Zuko had given them some kind of weird hand signal with his thumbs. Jet seemed to understand it. Toklo did not understand anything anymore. 

"How much do you wanna bet Zuko's in there, trading off important information to keep his sorry ass alive?" Jet grumbled, quietly enough the soldiers wouldn't hear. 

"He's not doing that," Toklo sighed tiredly — too tiredly to correct Jet for swearing — and leaned his arms on the metal rail. It was cold, and rusty, and felt like it was about to give way at any moment. _Yeesh. If all Fire Nation ships are this crappy, no wonder Zuko fell off of his._

"How do you know?" Jet pressed. 

"Because." Toklo rubbed a hand over his face. Tui's _tail,_ he was _tired._ "He doesn't _have_ any information. I told you already." 

Jet shrugged. "He could have been sneaking and reading documents." 

Toklo rolled his eyes. "No," he replied simply.

"How do you know?" 

He sighed heavily, shrugging instead of actually answering, and watching as the ship's resident octocat crawl-dragged its way up the wall with its tentacle-paws. Now _there_ was a pet he could appreciate. The _cute_ to the _creepy_ of Zuko's pet abomination.

Since this was a _Fire Nation_ ship, would it be wrong to kidnap — er, _adopt,_ the adorable little kittypus? 

_Nah,_ that'd be fine. Those jerks disguised as humans didn't deserve such cuteness in their lives. And the octocat was _purring,_ like a tiny snow leopard-fox, only not _nearly_ as deadly. He just _had_ to —

"Don't even think about it," Gambler Lady said, seemingly reading his mind and giving him a stern glare. "Captain won't be too happy if he comes back and finds his pet missing." 

"Yeah, and it'll be at the expense of all our eardrums," Sore Loser said, pointing at her ear for emphasis. "That kid had some lungs."

"You'd know," butted in the crewman sitting nearby polishing a shoulder-guard. "You're the one who had to help clear smoke out of 'em for a week after he showed up." 

Toklo kept his mouth shut and listened. Their Captain wasn't even on the ship? Why? They were nowhere near port. Had he gone off on his own? 

Toklo broke his own thoughts off with a yawn. It didn't matter — the Captain being gone was good news as far as he was concerned. Fire Navy Captains, in his experience, were dicks. 

Jet elbowed him in the side. "Think we should go find _Lee?_ He's been gone for a while. And I don't know if thumbs-up means the same thing in the Fire Nation." 

Toklo nodded. That sounded like a very good idea. 

~

Zuko was trying to process a lot of things at once. Uncle hadn't sold him out. Uncle had been looking for Chan's ship to get him back. Uncle was _hugging_ him like he wasn't the biggest disappointment in the whole world.

Zuko was _letting_ Uncle hug him, something he hadn't done since he was, what, eleven? Somewhere around that age, anyway. 

Zuko also had some Things he wanted to _talk_ with Uncle about at the first given opportunity.

Things like, _'Were you going to tell me about our country's horrible crimes, or was I just supposed to find that out during an Air Temple field trip myself?'._

Or, how about, _'Remember the time you wrote to your impressionable ten-year-old nephew and eight-year-old niece, joking about burning a huge city full of civilians to the ground?'_

The kind of Things that could and would get Zuko executed if he said them to anyone _but_ Uncle Iroh. He'd already gotten away with worse, this hug was proof of that. Realistically, he wasn't sure he'd have the guts to _say_ those things if it came down to it, but maybe he could write them down and then conveniently misplace the paper in a place where Uncle would see it and take the hint?

He sighed. He could cross that bridge when he came to it. Meanwhile, he was here, and Uncle wasn't mad at him, and Toklo and Jet were charging down the corridor at a breakneck speed —

_Wait._

"There you are!" Toklo came to a sudden, neat stop in front of Zuko, his boots grabbing easily on the floor. Jet came to an even quicker stop, and Zuko dodged back to avoid the (definitely stolen from a crewmember) knife in his hand. 

"What's going on?" Jet snarled. "What do they want from you? Are you selling us out?"

Uncle Iroh smiled good-naturedly, giving Zuko's companions an appraising look. 

"So, you are the friends my nephew has made? I trust you've been treating him well." 

Toklo's jaw dropped. He didn't drop out of the defensive stance he'd had, but he relaxed a little. "You're Zuko's Uncle? Like, his actual one, not —"

Jet did not appear to be listening. His eyes had narrowed, the knife in his hand slowly coming up. There was a dangerous look in his eye directed toward Uncle Iroh, and Zuko realized a moment too late what he was about to do. 

"Jet — Jet, NO —"

~

 _Jet_ _YES._

_~_

It was, in retrospect, a good thing Toklo had snagged Jet a knife from the short lady who had been sparring on the deck. Short Lady was, apparently, a fast runner, and showed up just in time to prevent the assassination of Zuko's Uncle, and by extension preventing Toklo's little brother from becoming a killer at thirteen to avenge his uncle. 

And then the shouting started, and Toklo took it back. This was not a good thing. None of this was a good thing. He should have never let Jet have the knife. 

At least he got some new swear words out of it!

And significant hearing loss.

He hoped that wasn't permanent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas Eve to all those who celebrate Christmas, and a merry Thursday to those who don't! And to both groups, I hope you all have a great day regardless!


	2. 2; 'everyone is hangry. nobody is happy.'

Jet was _pissed. Off_. 

He'd been trying to save Zuko's _life,_ what was wrong with that? Toklo hadn't been doing anything, and Zuko wasn't fighting back —

And also, if this guy was Zuko's _uncle_ that meant he was the same guy who'd besieged Ba Sing Se, and punishment from him would be just as bad as from the Firelord, if not worse. So _excuse me_ for trying to save the other half of Zuko's _face_ from getting burnt to a crisp. 

Zuko had flinched, and the crazy lady who'd attacked Jet and stolen his knife had glared at Jet menacingly. Toklo's knee, pinning Jet to the floor, pressed harder into his back. 

The General just frowned at him. 

"It seems there has been a misunderstanding," he said calmly. "I have no intention of harming my nephew, though I appreciate your resolve to defend him." 

"Uncle, he just tried to _kill_ you," Zuko choked out, way too loudly and way, _way_ too close to Jet's ear. "I think that's more than a _misunderstanding."_

"Zuko, this is not the first time I have been threatened," the old man replied patiently. "I am sure it will not be the last. I do not blame him for misreading the situation." 

"Uncle —"

"Zuko, why don't you let your friend up off the floor? He doesn't look very comfortable." 

Jet heard a lot of grumbling from the firebender, but the hands pinning Jet's arms down released. Toklo's knee stopped digging into his spine, and Jet dragged himself to his feet, glaring at Zuko.

"I don't know _what_ kind of crazy, messed-up thing is going on here, but —" 

"Kid, you stole my knife and tried to kill someone, you _don't_ get to use those words," Short Lady interrupted, grabbing him by the back of the shirt like a misbehaving kitten.

"Sheesh, where'd you even _find_ this one, Capt—" She broke off, staring at Zuko for a few seconds as if only just noticing him. "Huh. Good to have you back. Thought I recognized the yelling." 

Zuko was still glaring at Jet. "You tried to _kill_ my _Uncle."_

"I know. I was there." Jet jerked out of Short Lady's grip — he was pretty sure his shirt ripped, but that was a problem for Future Jet. "I already told you why I did it." 

"That doesn't make it okay!" Zuko lunged forward, and it was _his_ turn to be grabbed by the collar and held back; he gave an indignant yelp. "Uncle! Let me go!" 

"Lieutenant Jee," the General addressed the soldier who had been standing there, watching like he couldn't be bothered enough to intervene. "Would you take my tea set to the mess hall? I'm sure our guests would like some refreshments." 

"I am not having _tea —"_

"What is _wrong_ with you people —"

"Tea sounds _great,"_ Toklo said, interrupting Zuko and Jet at the same time. "What do you got?" 

"Have you ever had jasmine?" 

"Oh yeah, I think I have..." 

And that was how Jet found himself being _dragged_ down the corridor while Toklo made _polite conversation_ with _General Iroh._

Jet was really, _really_ starting to hate his life. 

~

Zuko glared.

Across the table, Jet scowled back. 

Jet had been trying to _help._ By murdering _Uncle._ How did that make any sense? Out of all the people in Zuko's (blood) family, Uncle was the _one_ that Zuko would actually be _upset_ about being murdered. 

Well, there was Azula too, but it wasn't like anyone _could_ murder her, she'd get them first, so was there even any point in considering it? 

"Zuko, drink your tea before it gets cold," Toklo said, bossily. Zuko ignored him in favor of continuing his stare-off with Jet. 

Finally, Zuko's eyes started watering from being open so long, and he looked away. He swore he could hear Jet laughing at him. _Jerk._ He picked up his tea and drank it so that Toklo (and now _Uncle)_ would stop _looking_ at him like that. 

Uncle filled the cup back up immediately, and _ignored_ Zuko's glare at him. 

Zuko went back to glaring at Jet. Jet went back to glaring at Zuko. 

For about three seconds. 

"I'm sorry, okay?" Jet finally snapped. "You're the one who was all worried about being recognized. He obviously recognized you, so I was trying to do damage control."

Zuko just had to stare at him for a minute. 

Jet was _right;_ Zuko had been worried over being recognized. But —

"I gave you a thumbs-up!" 

Jet snorted. "Yeah, and? That could have been an insult for all I knew. I didn't know if it had the same meaning in the Fire Nation." 

Zuko frowned. "So why didn't you _say_ that?" 

"I didn't think of it at the time!" 

"Guys, could you chill out?" Toklo's voice was calm, but his hand shook as he put down his cup. "Your uncle's fine. Jet could have paid more attention, but we can't do anything about it now." 

"Whose side are you on?" Zuko grumbled. He didn't really mean anything by it, but Toklo looked taken aback — maybe even offended.

"I'm not taking a _side,_ Zuko!" he snapped back _._ "You guys need to stop _fighting_ all the time! We're supposed to be sticking together! I can't keep dealing with you two always at each other's throats!"

Zuko recoiled, guilt simmering in his stomach. "I'm sorry —" 

Toklo held a hand up, the other pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just save it, I can't — not right now. Tui...I need a break." He looked at Uncle Iroh. "Can I go lay down somewhere?"

Uncle nodded. "There's a room down the hall. It's the one with a dent in it." 

That was Zuko's room, but Zuko refrained from pointing that out.

"Thanks," Toklo grumbled. "See you later," he added, turning around and walking out. An uncomfortable silence fell over those remaining in the room. Zuko finished his tea and pushed the empty cup away; Uncle didn't refill it this time. 

"I'll ask Dekku to prepare you something," Uncle Iroh said, breaking the silence. "I'm sure you're all hungry. And you can tell me how you managed to get here." 

"We should get Toklo some food, too," Jet said before Zuko could think of it. "There's no way he isn't starving. That'll make anyone's temper short. Tea isn't exactly filling." 

Uncle nodded, standing up. "I'm sure you'll all feel better once you've eaten." 

Zuko doubted that — his day had been going _okay,_ for _once,_ and now it was all crashing down again. _Typical._

"It'll be fine," Jet said, as Uncle was walking away. Zuko looked at him, frowning. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Toklo. He's not really mad at you. He's sick and tired of being in constant danger, like all of us." Jet picked at his nails, looking Zuko in the eye. "He'll forgive you." 

Zuko scowled. "Shut up, Jet." 

"Alright. Sorry for trying to help." Jet rolled his eyes. "So, that lady called you Captain?" 

~

Toklo curled up on the mattress, letting his hair loose from the tight topknot that was giving him _such_ a headache. His stomach growled, but there was no way he was going back out there. He didn't even know if he'd be able to find the right room again. And he couldn't, anyway — not after he'd done that. 

He'd _yelled_ at Zuko, and Zuko hadn't even been the _reason_ he was mad, he was mad because he hadn't been able to just relax and talk to someone other than himself about _normal_ things in _days,_ and because he still didn't know if Zuko's uncle could be trusted or if he was playing them all; because Chief Hakoda was probably out there looking for them in the wrong place, and they were here, and he wasn't. He was mad that they _were_ here, instead of at home, safe, with no war forcing them to go out and fight, no Firelord sending his kids on wild polar-bear-goose chases. 

He missed home. Mom, who by now must have already had the little brother or sister he'd been so excited about, before he got the news that he had to leave. Gramps. Dad. His brother, who was probably at Chameleon Bay right now, and was eventually going to get the news that he'd been captured, whether Chief sent a letter ahead or just went on without trying to find them anymore —

And that could happen. He might find the ship that _hadn't_ sank, find out they weren't on it, and then turn around and keep going to Chameleon Bay. 

He hoped, he _really, really hoped_ that wouldn't happen. _Please, let that not happen_ _._

At some point, he must have fell asleep, because he woke up and there was a bowl of jook by the bed. In hindsight, he maybe should have been a little more cautious on the off-chance it was actually poisoned, but he was _really_ hungry. 

Thankfully it wasn't poisoned, and he felt a little better after eating. Better enough to look around, and take in the (boring, plain) walls of the room he was in. Seriously, where was the decoration? 

There were some nice swords on the wall, at least. Creepy mask, though. 

Toklo sighed, leaning against the wall behind him. There were weapons, so he probably wasn't being imprisoned here. That was good. 

He closed his eyes, drifting off again. 


	3. 3; 'Zuko can have a little pretend murder, as a treat.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Christmas, you get an extra update, and I get to write Jet and Zuko actually understanding each other for once.

His nephew had changed. That was clear in the way he trusted the Water Tribe warrior — and the boy was certainly Water Tribe. There were very few blue eyes like that anywhere between the poles. He must be the one Chan had captured. 

(This made the other boy — Jet — the escapee from the mainland. How he had ended up on the Water Tribe ship to be captured was a story he would have to ask for at another time.)

Zuko was more open, it seemed. He'd allowed Iroh to _hug_ him, that alone was a massive change from the shouting, prickly boy who had been swept away in a storm. 

He was still somewhat prickly, of course, that much was clear from Zuko's staring contest with Jet, but Iroh hoped that was a result of his nephew being hungry and tired. 

As of right now, Zuko was napping face-down on one of the benches, while Jet amused himself by stacking plates and bowls on the sleeping boy's back. Assistant Cook Dekku looked a little disgruntled at his precious cabinets being raided, but he made no remarks out loud, because there was a rather large rack of knives within the young boy's reach, and there wasn't a soul on the ship that hadn't heard about the mishap earlier. 

It truly was fortunate Hanako had gotten there when she did. If she hadn't, and the knife had met its target...Iroh pitied Jet in that hypothetical situation. 

He also pitied Jet whenever Zuko woke up. Well-fed-and-rested or not, his nephew was only a morning person in the actual _morning_. 

~

What in _Agni's name_ was that _noise?_ And what just fell on his head? What — why was he wearing a _bowl,_ that didn't make any sense, and — who was _laughing at him?_

~

When Helmsman Kyo walked into the mess hall, he was just in time to hear a loud clattering of dishware, and hear muffled snickers from the newly acquired eyebrow child. 

He was _not_ in time to get his earplugs in before the shouting started. 

~

Zuko was going to _kill_ Jet. It wasn't even about Uncle anymore, Zuko was past that. No, this was a matter of Zuko's _—_ not _honor,_ no, this was his _dignity._ This wasn't like on Hakoda's ship, where everyone outranked him and thus had the inherent right to make fun of him as they pleased. He was supposed to set an _example_ here, and be someone his crew could look up to. He was _not_ going to go down in history (or at least in his crewmen's memory) as _Prince_ _Bowl-Head._

And, oh look, wasn't it nifty that someone had put an entire rack of knives _right there_ within his reach? 

(Inwardly, he shuddered. He'd clearly spent too much time around Chief Hakoda if he was using words like _nifty_ in his internal monologue.)

(Outwardly, he was busy chasing down Jet with a sharp object in each hand, yelling at that bastard to _get back here_. They were on _his_ ship now. Nobody could stop him.) 

~

Iroh tried to stop him. So did Teruko and Kyo, who were both near the mess hall when he started his mini-rampage. Mostly, though, the crew just paused a moment, gave resigned sighs, and put in earplugs before continuing whatever they had been doing. All of a sudden, it was like the Prince had never been gone.

(Except for the fact that the Prince's vocabulary now included an array of creative swears he certainly hadn't had before he had disappeared. In the engine room, Hanako gave a vindicated snort. _So much for watching our language around the boy,_ she thought wryly in Iroh's direction.)

~

Look, Jet wasn't _trying_ to antagonize the firebender, it wasn't _his_ fault Zuko couldn't take a joke, how was _he_ supposed to know Zuko would pull _two_ knives on him — but this? Was the most fun he'd had in _months,_ for three reasons:

One — he was getting exercise, something he hadn't been able to _do_ in prison, or in the lifeboat.

Two — he was learning the layout of the Fire Nation ship, which was ridiculously useful information that he could use just in case Zuko's alleged crewman decided to be not-so-down-with-treason-anymore.

Three — and this was a big one — he was pretty sure Zuko wasn't _actually_ going to kill him over a dumb joke, unlike most _actual_ Fire Nation soldiers. 

_"I'm going to kill you! And then I'll bury you and dig you up and kill you again!"_

Yep. Pretty sure. Nobody used threats that over-the-top and meant it. 

Jet was just gonna hide somewhere _anyway_ though, just so Zuko could have a little bit of a challenge. Not because he needed time to decide on his last words or anything. 

~

Zuko wasn't actually planning on killing Jet. He didn't want to make a mess in his ship, and he doubted it would help patch things up with Toklo if he murdered a fellow crewman. Chief Hakoda would be pretty disappointed in him too, and he really didn't want that. 

Also, it wouldn't be a great example for his crew if he killed someone over a _dumb joke._ It would just further solidify their opinion of him as a spoiled, sensitive royal. He had to think about that now. 

Also, Jet was a dumbass and a jerk, but Zuko didn't want him _dead_ for it, he hesitantly admitted to himself.

It was still fun to chase him through the ship with knives. Was this how Azula felt?

 _Ooh._ Maybe he should pull back a little on the enthusiasm. He didn't want to be Azula. 

With that in mind, he made his threats a little more over-the-top. That should help get the message across. 


	4. 4; 'whose bright idea was it to make a 13-year-old Captain anyway?'

Footsteps and laughter echoed loudly through the ship's corridors, and it was impossible to tell where they were coming from, only that the sound was deafening.

Iroh sighed heavily, and wondered if the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe had to deal with this kind of thing. 

Speaking of, he really should write and inform the Chief that his men (or rather, boys — Iroh knew from the wanted notices that Jet was no older than Zuko) were safe. Though, how safe for how long, Iroh didn't know in Jet's case. 

His nephew had been chasing him for a _while._ Frankly, Iroh was impressed with the amount of stamina his nephew had. Or perhaps it was less an excess of energy and more an excess of stubbornness and a refusal to quit. 

Either way, it was good to know his nephew was back. And judging by the laughter coming from both boys, no real harm was being done (except to the crew's sense of hearing). 

He sat down at his desk, beginning his letter to Chief Hakoda. 

~

Toklo woke up to thundering footsteps and maniacal laughter outside his door. He was almost worried, except he _recognized_ the laughter. Evidently Zuko was in a better mood. 

As was Jet. 

Wait. Maybe he _should_ be worried. Zuko laughing _and_ Jet laughing _had_ to be a sign of the end times.

He'd check on them. And then he was going to see if this ship had a washroom — he hadn't bathed in a week, and still had firebender blood on his clothes and hair and _face_. _Yuck._

He stepped out of the room, and nearly got trampled by Jet. And then by Zuko. 

Zuko had sharp knives. Two. He was dual-wielding a pair of kitchen knives, and chasing Jet with a slightly crazed grin on his face. Or maybe it just _looked_ crazed because he never smiled. Toklo didn't know. 

_Hoo boy...this is gonna be a long day._

~

They did have a washroom. Two, actually; one for laundry, one for people. Gambler Lady (whose name, he found out, was actually Teruko) helpfully pointed him toward the right one. 

~

They had a washroom, but no _baths._ Teruko neglected to mention that _._

_~_

"What is that thing," Toklo said flatly. 

"It's a roach-mouse," Zuko said helpfully. He tilted his head, considering. "Or a baby roach- _rat_." He wasn't getting close enough to find out. The animal in question hissed and scurried away. Zuko tried not to be grossed out by it, like this was completely normal. 

"I _knew_ that," Toklo said, not even bothering to hide his grossed-out-ness. "I was talking about _that."_ He pointed to the showerhead, looking at Zuko. "More specifically, how does it work? Do you need to firebend at it, or...?"

Oh, that. "You don't need to firebend. You just turn the handles until the water comes out, and keep turning until it's at a good temperature." 

Toklo nodded. "Alrighty. Turn the handles. Got it."

"Soap is on the shelf," Zuko added, even though Toklo could have probably found it for himself. He was just covering all the bases.

"Any chance you have a razor?" Toklo scratched at his upper lip, where some dark stubble was visible. "I could handle the chin hairs, but the world just isn't ready for me with a moustache." 

Zuko sighed. "I'll see what I can do." 

~

Not one spare razor on the whole ship. Apparently it didn't fit into the budget. And apparently Uncle hadn't actually _told_ the crew who Toklo was, but still, nobody wanted to share theirs with the suspiciously Water-Tribe-y looking teenager (who had apparently tried to kidnap Sushi? Zuko was going to have to talk with Toklo about that). 

So Zuko was stuck sharing his. There wasn't any particular _reason_ he didn't want to share, except that he didn't like sharing things. Sharing things usually led to things getting lost, or broken, or permanently relocated to a shelf in his sister's room and _no, Zuzu, you can't have it back._

He figured he owed Toklo, though, for sharing his clothes when Zuko first showed up on the _Akhlut_. And Toklo _wasn't_ his sister.

Speaking of clothes, he should probably find some of those too. Maybe he could just grab some of Kyo's, because they ought to fit Toklo, and the Helmsman didn't pay _that_ much attention to his belongings. And Zuko probably had something Jet could borrow. 

Speaking of _Jet,_ Zuko should probably be worried that he had disappeared as soon as Toklo came to get Zuko with his Shower Questions. He hoped Jet wasn't getting in trouble again, he'd really hate to deal with that. Because now, it was his responsibility to deal with stuff like that. 

He wondered how Hakoda was doing, now that he didn't have to deal with stuff like that. 

~

(Jet was currently in the galley, chewing a brand-new piece of hay from the komodo-rhinos' manger while he carefully put away the plates and bowls under the Head Cook's watchful eye.)

~

Hakoda was starting to wish someone would do something stupid, and annoying, or start a fight, so he'd have something to do other than stand here and wait for night to fall.

They were catching up to the second Fire Nation ship, which was going far slower than it ought to. Likely from low fuel stores. The _Akhlut_ hadn't been spotted, so tonight they were going to get in, get the boys back, and send this ship under the waves with its partner vessel. 

Planning was important. Watching was important. Thinking about how this all could have been avoided so easily was not important, but his brain kept insisting it was. 

_You could have let Zuko leave, and found a decent port town for him to stay in. That would have lowered the risk for both him and the crew. You should have noticed that ship sooner and sunk it before they could take him._

"Hakoda." Bato's voice snapped Hakoda out of his thoughts again. Hakoda didn't even need to look at his friend, he could already feel the stern look boring holes in him. "Were you listening?"

Hakoda's face must have given away his answer, because Bato sighed heavily. 

"They'll be fine, Hakoda. You have other crewmen to look out for, we can't have our Chief worrying himself to death."

Hakoda sighed. "I know. That doesn't mean I can just _stop."_

Bato nodded. "I know. But you _can_ be here for the rest of the crew. We need you." 

Hakoda knew his friend was right. Hell, he'd been telling himself the same thing all day. Getting the nudge from someone else seemed to help, though. "Alright," he said, turning away from the rail. "We should get everything prepared. Let's bring up the blasting jelly, and get the boats ready." 

"On it, Chief." Bato had a look of relief on his face as he walked away. 

For the rest of the day, Hakoda helped the crew with preparations for the raid, and going over the plans.

And he very pointedly did _not_ think about the boy his son had grown up with and looked up to, or the boy he'd all but adopted in spite of his heritage, or the boy who he'd let join the crew because he couldn't abandon _another_ child, all three of whom had already lost so much to the Fire Nation and didn't deserve to lose their freedom, too. 


	5. 5; 'shit gets a little serious'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw - discussion of the Air Nomads' genocide and the Fire Nation's other crimes.

Iroh sent the message out as soon as it was finished, just in time for his nephew to appear in the doorway of his office as the shirshu raven flew out the window.

"Uncle, have you seen Jet?" 

"I believe he was in the kitchen, returning the dishes to their places," Iroh answered. His nephew's shoulders sagged with weary relief. 

"Good. I didn't want to punish a crewmember for getting in a fight with him or anything," he said, slumping to the floor across from Iroh without invitation, and with the kind of carelessly dramatic attitude Iroh hadn't seen since before Zuko's banishment. It felt like a good sign, that his nephew was feeling up to being dramatic again. 

"Would you like some tea, Nephew?" Iroh offered. Zuko pulled a face, but nodded, taking the cup. "Was there something else you wished to talk with me about?" Iroh asked curiously — it wasn't like Zuko to actively seek him out if he didn't have something to say.

At the question, Zuko looked sheepish — maybe even a little guilty. "Um..."

"I assure you, whatever it is, I will do my best to answer." 

Zuko seemed to brace himself, clenching his fists and taking in a deep breath. "Uncle, do you still believe this war is right?" 

Iroh looked at his nephew, taken aback for a moment. Looking nervous, the boy kept talking. 

"I — I found out what we did to the Air Nomads. They didn't even have an army, they were pacifists, but we killed _all_ of them — there were bodies in the Eastern Air Temple. Little _kids."_ Zuko's voice broke somewhat, his face twisting in disgust and horror. "And — and I know the same thing happened at the Western Air Temple too, and you _hid_ it from me." 

Zuko's right eye widened for the split second Iroh could see it before his nephew quickly turned his face away, seeming startled by his own accusation. Iroh sighed. 

"That is true, Nephew," he said, gently as he could. "I did not think you were ready to know." 

Zuko's jaw tightened, his unscarred side still facing away from Iroh. Iroh averted his eyes from the red, misshapen eye and ear that faced him. "I would rather you have told me then, than have had to find out the way I did." 

Iroh's guilt grew worse, but he could not wallow in it now. And he would not make excuses — Zuko might not argue with them, but he would see through them all the same.

"I am sorry, Zuko," he said, although he knew it wasn't enough.

Zuko closed his eyes, his mouth a hard line. He looked both far older and far younger than he was, and Iroh's guilt rose again. 

"It's fine," Zuko said quietly. 

"I don't believe it is," Iroh responded, frowning; his nephew just shrugged in response. Iroh sighed. 

"Perhaps we can continue this conversation another time?" he suggested. "I do not want to overwhelm you." And, in truth, he wasn't sure he was ready to speak about this; he'd _just_ got his nephew back. He did not want to say the wrong thing and drive him away. 

"No. I want answers now," Zuko said sharply, looking at Iroh. "You haven't told me anything yet." 

Iroh sighed. "Then by all means, my nephew, ask away." 

~

Zuko sighed heavily. Best, probably, to start at the beginning. Again. 

"Do you think what the Fire Nation is doing is right?" 

Uncle Iroh sighed, looking sadly at the table. "I believe that our country's actions have been misguided from the beginning. You cannot force a way of life upon those who do not want it. Unfortunately, I realized this far too late."

 _Damn right,_ Zuko didn't say out loud. "When _did_ you realize it?" he asked, though he thought he might already know. 

"Shortly after Lu Ten's death," Uncle answered, just as Zuko had expected. "My own thirst for power caused the death of somebody I loved, and I realized the Fire Nation's conquest was causing more harm than good. We were not spreading prosperity as we claimed, and trying to force our idea of progress only taught the rest of the world to hate and fear us." 

Zuko nodded, releasing a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Yeah," he said quietly. "And they do." 

Uncle nodded. "I am sorry you found out the way you found out about the Air Nomads." 

"Did we really kill _all_ of them?" Zuko asked. "They were a whole race, and to kill all of them in one day —"

"Only those who were still in the four temples were targeted during Sozin's Comet. Mostly the elderly and the very young. Those who survived were lured out of hiding by rumors of other survivors." 

Oh, that was even _worse,_ using someone's hope against them. Zuko just managed to keep his face from showing his disgust. "And then we took away all the Southern Water Tribe's benders. And now we're doing the same thing to the Earth Kingdom. And our own people don't even know what we're doing is wrong." 

Uncle nodded solemnly. 

Zuko sighed. "What about the crew? Are they going to report us?"

"I don't believe so, Nephew, but it would not hurt to be careful. I would advise not confirming any suspicions they may already have." 

He nodded. "Alright. I'll remember that. Thank you, Uncle." 

"Of course, Nephew. Now, are you going to finish your tea?" 

~

As the afternoon drew on, Jin watched as the warriors prepared the boats, and donned their armor. 

As the sun sank, Akela prepared to defend the ship in case of an ambush during their attack. Her injured arm still hurt to move, but there wasn't much of a choice. With Bato as injured as he was and Panuk still recovering from his dip in the ocean, there were only so many warriors left, and they needed as many as they could get for the mission.

As the moon rose and the sky darkened, the Water Tribe boats reached the Fire Nation ship, harnessing the barrels to the exterior of the ship while the Chief and a small group climbed a rope to the deck. 

~

Hakoda knew the prison was likely on the lower decks, similar to an Earth Kingdom ship. Getting down there undetected on a ship this size would be difficult. But not impossible. 

They managed. One or two firebending soldiers spotted them, but were taken out before they could raise the alarm, and the group reached the brig without major interference.

The cells were empty. 

~

Admiral Chan awoke to the sounds of a fight outside. That was all the warning he got before the door was thrown open, and one of the Water barbarians in blue, blood-splattered armor was bearing down on him with a sharp weapon in his hand and grabbing him by the collar —

 _"Where are they?"_ he demanded, and Chan suddenly felt a great regret that he hadn't just stayed on course to lick his wounds after the Earth Navy attack, because he'd lost one ship and now he was about to lose his _life —_

"Tell me where your prisoners are, or I cut your throat." 

Chan winced as the cold bone weapon touched his neck. "I-I-I don't know!" he stammered. "They got away!" 

Under the shadows of the wolflike helmet visor, Chan still saw a flicker of blue as the warrior's eyes widened. "How? How did they escape?" he demanded.

"They took a boat. Blew up the ship's engine. Half my officers were killed as it went down." 

The warrior's hand let go of his collar. The man pulled back his weapon. 

"You'd better hope you can swim," he said cryptically, before disappearing back through the door. 

~

"Hakoda!" Tuluk called as he ran across the deck, to where the Chief had a firebender pinned with a spear point at their neck. Hakoda looked up. 

"They escaped," Tuluk said as he reached the Chief. "They got away on a boat and sank the other ship." 

Hakoda's eyes widened. He stood, holding the spear in place and keeping the firebender pinned with a foot on their chest. "They got away? They're safe?" 

"It's what the Captain said." The Captain could have been lying, but Tuluk really doubted that. "They're probably headed for land." 

"Round up the others and head back to the _Akhlut_. We don't have time to waste." Hakoda's gaze swept over the deck. "Then we sink this thing before it can cause any more trouble." 

Tuluk nodded. He liked that plan. "Understood." 

The firebender struggled harder to get up, and Hakoda gritted his teeth. "Go!" 

Tuluk ran off to complete his orders; a glance over his shoulder showed him Hakoda was doing just fine fighting that firebender, and was fighting with renewed vigor. Tuluk understood that; knowing the boys were alive, and had escaped, had an energizing effect.

He hoped they would still be alive when they found them. 


	6. 6; 'can't a guy wash his hair in PEACE'

Zuko's room felt bigger than he remembered. He guessed it was because he was used to sleeping in close quarters on the _Akhlut._ Ironic, because it had seemed _tiny_ when he'd first boarded the _Wani,_ compared to his chambers at the Palace.

He supposed Azula must have that room now. He didn't really _care,_ since it wasn't like he was going back there anyway. 

Zuko sighed, looking around the room. It was sparsely decorated — just the hangings that had been there when he arrived. The only personal touch was the pair of dao on the wall, beneath the theatre mask from Mom's collection. 

It looked exactly the same as he'd left it. The covers on the bed were still messy (though that was probably Toklo's fault), the rug still had that corner that would not lay flat, the door still had the same stupid, creaky hinges. 

It felt cold. Not the temperature (although the heating system _was_ cutting out a lot lately). The room felt empty, unlived-in. 

"Hey, Zuko, you in the Spirit World or something?" Toklo tapped his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. "This is the right room, right?" 

Zuko nodded, his face warming; he'd forgotten he wasn't alone. How long had he been standing there like an idiot? Shit, how long had Toklo been talking? Zuko hoped he hadn't said anything important. 

"Yeah. This is my room." 

"Huh. I should've guessed from the swords," Toklo said. "Guess you've got two sets now, huh?"

Zuko smiled a little. "You and Jin can split the other one now."

"Yeah. If we ever get back." Toklo sighed, looking around. "Sure there's room for all three of us?" 

"Would you rather bunk with the crew?" 

Toklo wrinkled his nose. "No thanks. This is fine. Why this room, though? Your Uncle's room is in the tower thingy." 

Zuko sighed. "This was closer to the mess hall and infirmary. Uncle and the doctor didn't want me walking too much after..." he gestured to his face in lieu of saying anything more. Toklo seemed to get the gist. 

"Your bed's super uncomfortable, by the way," he said, stepping past Zuko into the room. "No chance you've got a hammock laying around, is there?" 

"Nope. No furs either."

"This place is the worst," Toklo said, correctly. 

It was then that the shouting began. Unfortunately familiar shouting. Zuko sighed heavily; he and Toklo shared weary eye contact. "Jet," they said at the same time.

~

Jet had been peacefully combing blood and salt crust out of his hair at the sink, humming a stupid song the cook had gotten stuck in his head and contemplating maybe giving his hair a trim because it was getting a little long, when the ceiling made a noise. He looked up, and it fell down on his face. 

The ceiling was furry, and had many suckers, and Jet thought he could be excused a manly shriek of ~~terror~~ surprise. 

The door burst open. Jet could not see who had opened it, because there were two paws on his face; coincidentally, that was the same number of eyes he had. Somebody stepped forward and grabbed the evil ceiling impostor off of his face. The suckers came loose with a loud _pop!_

His savior was, unfortunately, Zuko, who was _cradling_ the evil ceiling impostor (which now just looked like the octocat Jet had seen on the deck earlier) in his arms like a baby, or like Yuki, his menace of a goose-goat who was always stealing Jet's wheat for her breakfast. 

Zuko also looked like he was trying not to laugh. The octocat purred happily, curling around his wrist. "Did Sushi startle you?" the firebender asked, scratching under the menace's chin. 

" _Sushi_?" Jet glanced at the octocat. "You named that thing Sushi?" 

Zuko's not-laugh morphed into a definitely-scowl. "So what? She's my catopus, not yours." 

Jet huffed. "Whatever! Get out, don't you people have any concept of _privacy?"_ Actually, he wouldn't be surprised if the answer to that was _no_ , considering just how much the Fire Nation liked barging in on people's lives. He was just glad he hadn't gotten in the shower yet, because this was already embarrassing enough.

"You're the one who started screaming!" Zuko scowled. "You're _welcome,_ by the way." 

Before Jet could yell at him again, he walked out, slamming the door. 

~

"You're so good at making friends, Zuko, how ever do you do it? Must be your tact and bubbly personality." 

"Shut up, Toklo," Zuko grumbled, letting Sushi crawl up onto his shoulder, where she curled around his neck like a comfortable, purring scarf.

"What were you planning to do if he was in the shower?" 

"I wouldn't have even gone _in_ there, he could sort out his own problems," Zuko said. "Maybe I should have just done that anyways, I think Sushi was having a lot of fun." 

"Fun." Toklo repeated the word like he'd never heard it. "That's new coming from you." 

Zuko stared at him, taken aback. "I'm fun!" 

"I know. You just don't talk about it a lot and you're usually pretty discouraging of it..." Toklo tilted his head, gesturing with his hand. "You can see where I got the idea."

Zuko didn't like this conversation. "I don't like this conversation." 

"I don't either. Wanna go play cards?"

"Sure." Zuko adjusted his catopus-scarf. "I'll get some of Genji's cards, he has like, ten decks." 

"Think you could steal some pillows while you're at it?" 

Zuko thought on it. _It'd be easy enough to get some out of the linen closet...especially since I **am** the Captain. Plus, I'm fun, right?_ "Sure. Why not?" 

Toklo smiled. "Awesome." 

~

Zuko had grabbed not only cards and pillows, but had managed to smuggle in some food, a large flask of something he said was called 'coffee,' and several empty scrolls. And he had it all bundled in a conveniently cozy-looking knit blanket. 

"I didn't even get caught," he said proudly, spreading it all out on the bed. "We should probably keep Uncle from seeing us, though. I'm not supposed to have coffee." He held up the flask. "No idea why. He's no fun."

Toklo nodded slowly. "Alright. You deal first?"

~

Jet walked into Zuko's room, freshly washed, changed into somewhat cleaner clothes, and with hair that no longer itched his shoulders and neck, but was still long enough to look cool. 

He walked in, and found them playing cards, and judging by the scores marked off on a piece of paper, they were tied. The catopus was curled up on his head like a bizarre hat, complete with tentacle chin-straps. 

"Your gambling face is terrible," Toklo remarked, fanning his cards out to look at them. 

"Yours isn't any better," Zuko grumbled, looking away from his own cards. "Hey, Jet." 

"Hey. Can I play?" 

Toklo nodded, gathering up his cards and the deck. "Yeah, we needed to start over anyway, Princess here was cheating." 

"Was not!" Zuko huffed, tossing his cards down. "He's the only one here who's cheating." 

"What are you playing?" Jet asked, tilting his head to see if there was any pattern to the cards in their hands. It didn't look like there was. 

"Go Fish," Toklo answered. "We don't really know any other games." 

_Oh._ Jet smiled. "I could teach you some. Of course, most of them involve money, but we could probably figure out something else." 

"Hang on, hold that thought." Zuko looked like a lantern had just been lit in his head. He stood, dashing past Jet to get to the door, and ran out. Jet snickered at the telltale sound of his boots skidding on the slick floor and smacking into the wall. A muffled _'I'm fine!'_ reached them through the walls, and a moment later he was running again. 

Jet rolled his eyes, sitting down on the bed and looking around. "Cool swords," he remarked, nodding toward the weapons hung on the wall. 

"I know, right?" Toklo shuffled the cards, tucking his braid behind his ear. "Pretty badass."

The rest of the room was depressingly plain, but it was a lot nicer than the cell, or the tiny lifeboat that didn't even have a roof.

He still liked the _Akhlut_ better, and liked his treehouse better than _that_. 

Zuko came back, with a bottle of pinkish liquid in one hand and three cups in the other. He tossed a cup to Jet and Toklo each and climbed onto the bed, opening the bottle. "It's grapefruit juice," he said, answering the question of its contents before anyone could ask it. "The crew usually use alcohol, but I didn't feel like picking the lock to their cabinet. You just take a drink if you lose a round." 

Jet raised an eyebrow. He didn't want to admit it, but Zuko's idea sounded pretty good to him. He took the cards from Toklo, shuffling them. They couldn't play poker with Zuko's method, but he figured Snap would be easy enough.

~

"Uhp! You've gotta drink!" 

"No fair. These cards suck, you can hardly tell Water and Air apart." 

"Screw the suit, how'd you think three and six were a _match?"_

"You can't talk, mister five and nine _._ " 

"That was dif—"

"I have one eye, Jet, what's your excuse?"

"I wasn't —"

"Five. And. _Nine."_

~

"What are those kids _drinking?"_ Kyo wondered aloud as he and Teruko passed the room on the way to the mess hall.

"Grapefruit juice," Teruko answered. 

"Mm. Gross." 

"Yep." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year's Eve!


	7. 7; 'Zuko is better at identifying ships than identifying cards.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First update of 2021! What's up!

The bird had showed up with its message in the middle of the night with a _very_ important message, and now the _Akhlut_ was bound toward the Earth Kingdom, the crew keeping a lookout for a smaller, older Fire Nation warship. The message was dated from the day before, so the bird hadn't flown far to deliver it. 

By noon the next day, there was a dark, vaguely shiplike spot on the horizon, and the low clouds overhead were tinged gray with smoke. 

Hakoda had never been so happy to see a Fire Nation ship.

~

Toklo stood by, watching while Zuko spun and kicked the air, fire arcing around him. It was a little less anxiety-inducing, now that they weren't on a wooden boat. Zuko's uncle (unfortunately, his real Uncle, not Kustaa) stood nearby, correcting Zuko's stance or how high he kicked or his _breathing,_ and _yeesh,_ Toklo had known the Fire Nation were controlling, but it was so weird that there was a 'right way' to _breathe._

Jet was perched precariously on the rail, tilting a knife so the sun reflected off the blade. Sushi chased after the beam of light, her purrs reverberating off the metal surfaces all around them. Her tail swept back and forth adorably every time she wound up to pounce. 

"I wouldn't sit there," Teruko said as she walked past. "Those rails are fragile." 

Jet rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out at her back, and promptly almost fell overboard, grabbing onto the edge and climbing back up like nothing had happened. 

"You didn't see that," he said seriously, making intense eye contact with Toklo. 

"Sure," Toklo answered, filing that event away in his 'Fun stories to tell Jin if we get out of here alive' list. The probability of that happening seemed higher now, since they'd slept through two nights already without being killed. 

Jet settled down onto the actual deck, heaving a put-upon sigh as Sushi made her way onto his shoulder with a floppy leap, and began grooming his hair. Toklo couldn't think of anyone who needed their hair fixed more than Jet. 

"I think it is time for a break, Nephew," Iroh said. Zuko rolled his eyes. 

"I'm not tired," he complained, launching into another complicated-looking bending form.

Iroh sighed. "I suppose we will have to postpone dinner, then," he said. Zuko finished his form prematurely, landing flat on his back on the floor.

"Why didn't you just tell me it was dinnertime?" he snapped, hauling himself to his feet. "Just be straightforward for once." 

Toklo thought he had a point, and Iroh had the decency to look apologetic. 

"I'm sorry, Nephew." 

Zuko sighed. "Yeah, thanks..." 

"Come on, let's go see what we're having." Toklo walked over to Jet, helping him remove the tangle of octocat limbs around his neck. As he was pulling Jet to his feet, though, he spotted something in the distance. 

"Is that a ship?" he dropped Jet's hand — and Jet — to shade his eyes and peer out at the small shape silhouetted against the sunset-pink-and-gold clouds. 

_"Ow._ You couldn't have finished helping me up?" Jet asked, pulling himself up anyway. "It's probably just a bird anyway."

"No," Zuko said, coming over to stand at the railing. "That is definitely a boat." 

"Oh, so you can tell that the vague shape _miles away_ is a boat, but when you're supposed to be matching _cards —"_

"Whatever, Five-And-Nine," Zuko shot back. Jet shut up. 

"Do you think it's..." Toklo trailed off, realizing there were crewmembers within earshot. "Our ship?" 

"It could be." Zuko's face held a flicker of a smile for a second before it disappeared. "I don't know what'll happen if the crew sees them..." 

"I thought your ship wasn't involved with the war," Toklo said quietly. 

"They're not, but that doesn't mean everyone's gonna be fine with the Wat— um. With them boarding us." Zuko looked at Iroh, as if expecting the old man to magically produce a solution to the problem. Iroh stroked his pointy beard in an old-man-ly way, looking thoughtful. 

"There is a small island not far from here, I believe," he said after a pause. "We could meet there, rather than on one of our ships. That way, the chances of either crew getting defensive will be at a minimum." 

"Alright. We'll send a messenger hawk to let them know." 

Jet leaned on the rail, looking out toward the ship and squinting. "I'm still not _sure_ that's a ship." 

Zuko glared at him. "Shut up, Jet." 

~

Jet was getting tired of this ship. But as much as he really wanted to be back on the _Akhlut_ (or even better, on solid ground), he wasn't going to let the others get his hopes up over a smudge that may-or-may-not be a boat, and if did happen to be a boat, there was a decent chance it wasn't the _Akhlut._

That being said, he appreciated Zuko's insistence that they stop at the island, whether the approaching maybe-ship was the _Akhlut_ or not. It'd be easier, when Hakoda _did_ find them, to be in one place. Jet really wanted to feel solid ground under his feet again. 

"So, Zuko, are you coming with us back to the _Akhlut?"_ Toklo asked while they were having dinner in Zuko's room. 

"I...I don't know." Zuko looked down, fidgeting a little with his chopsticks. "I don't think I'm any safer here than I was...but I don't want to be in Chief Hakoda's way any longer."

Toklo looked up at Zuko, frowning. "You're not in anybody's way! Hakoda loves you, and Jin — she'd be miserable without you! We all would!" 

"Jin's going on to Ba Sing Se anyway," Zuko pointed out. "I don't _want_ to leave, but...I can't just leave here, either. I can't leave Uncle." 

Toklo frowned. "So what are you gonna do? Just drift around, and hope the Fire Nation don't catch up with you?" 

"This is a Fire Nation ship, Toklo," Zuko pointed out. He was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. 

"Right. One that anyone could recognize as _yours_." Toklo finished off his food, pushing the bowl aside. "And you said yourself that you don't know if you trust your own crew!"

"I can get a new crew, then! And a new ship!" 

Jet doubted that. Nobody was gonna buy this piece of junk, and judging by how patched-together everything was they didn't even have money for proper repairs, much less a whole new ship. 

"Zuko, you can't just sail around forever. Especially not surrounded by a bunch of people who you don't _know_ you can trust — you can't hire anyone Fire Nation, and anyone from the Earth Kingdom might recognize either one of you." Toklo sighed. "You know us. You know we'll protect you, we're not going to sell you out, or — or hurt you."

Zuko looked down at the table, silent for a few moments. His brow furrowed, his mouth pinched like he'd tasted something sour. 

"Uncle's my family. I can't just leave him."

Toklo frowned sadly. "Zuko, _we're_ your family. I thought you knew that." 

Zuko closed his eyes, setting his jaw. He looked pained. "I - I don't know, alright? So just leave me alone about it." 

He stood up, walking out. The door slowly swung itself shut, creaking on its hinges. Toklo stared after him for a minute before burying his face in his hands and swearing. 

"I shouldn't have pushed him."

"He'll have to make a decision at some point," Jet said, shrugging. "Maybe he'll think about it ahead of time now, instead of putting it off until last-minute." 

"I still feel really bad. I shouldn't have pushed him that way. I didn't mean to upset him..."

Jet sighed, tentatively reaching over and patting Toklo's back. "Let him think about it, alright? It's — I think it'd be a tough choice for anyone." 

Jet didn't think it would be hard for _him —_ given the choice, he'd go home in a heartbeat. But he knew what he was getting if he went back home. He'd built it up the first time around and he could do it again, somewhere else, somewhere further from the Fire Nation troops in that village. And he knew his kids, at least some of them, would still be there for him. He'd be prepared if the Fire Nation came for them again. He would fight them again and again, just like before.

Zuko, though, didn't have that. If he stayed with his uncle, he wouldn't be able to settle down. They couldn't go to the Fire Nation, they couldn't stay in the Earth Kingdom, and the sea wasn't safe for anyone anymore. But if he went back with the Water Tribe, he'd have to leave his uncle. 

Jet didn't know a whole lot about Zuko's family history — he didn't _want_ to, what he already knew was bad enough — but that old General seemed like the one person in Zuko's blood family who cared about him. Some time after he'd nearly stabbed the old guy _(whoops),_ once the yelling was finished and they were in Zuko's room setting up for a last game of cards before bed, after Jet had apologized again, Zuko had said something about his uncle being almost like a parent to him. 

And, now that Jet thought about it — if he was forced to choose between going back to his kids and getting his parents back, he really didn't know what he'd choose. 

_Zuko must be feeling the same way._

"I just...I'm already missing the rest of my family, I don't know what I'll do if I have to let him leave too," Toklo admitted. "He and Jin are the only ones who don't still treat me like a kid — besides the Chief, but he's the _Chief,_ and..." 

Jet sighed, pulling Toklo into a hug, letting the older teen talk out his frustration and fear and sadness. Jet didn't understand; he didn't have the same bond with Zuko, but he could sympathize. And he could do his best to comfort. 

~

Zuko curled up in the cargo hold, between two crates. Sushi curled around his neck, purring and sniffing at his face like she _knew_ something was wrong. She probably did, she was really smart — so much smarter than him, because he hadn't even _thought_ about what was going to happen when Uncle and Chief Hakoda caught up to each other, and now —

He didn't know what he was going to _do,_ or where he was going to go, and Toklo was right, he _didn't_ trust the crew that much and he _couldn't_ stay on this ship and there was nobody he could hire unless he was able to keep his _entire life_ a secret.

And whether he had meant it to happen or not, whether he'd admitted it to himself before now, the Chief's crew _were_ his family now. 

But so was _Uncle,_ and Uncle couldn't come with him if he went back. And Uncle was all he had of home now. 

Sushi _mrrow_ ed, butting her head into his face. He managed a smile, burying his face into her soft fur. 

"At least you could come with me," he said, and it wasn't even funny but he laughed anyway to try and relieve the pressure in his chest. It came out more like a sob.

That was a lot more accurate to how he felt. Sushi was a lot better to cry into than a pillow. 


	8. 8; 'hugs can't solve everything, but they can help'

The _Wani_ dropped anchor just before sunrise. The water was too shallow around the island to go further, so they would take a smaller boat over once it was light. 

The ship's pint-sized Captain was nowhere to be found, so nobody could tell him that information, but that was fine. It was the middle of the night, nobody wanted to get yelled at by a cranky, half-asleep teenager for waking him up.

They set about making preparations to go ashore, and kept quiet about their suspicions as to _why_ they were stopping here, and who the Captain and General Iroh were meeting with, until the General was out of earshot. 

The general consensus was that they were meeting with a Water Tribe Navy ship to negotiate returning their crewmen. 

The Water Tribe ship that had gotten ahold of the _Prince,_ and roped him into _treason._

If their preparations involved sharpening more weapons than strictly necessary for shore leave, nobody was going to point it out. 

~

Zuko hated falling asleep after crying. He especially hated falling asleep after crying in the clothes he'd worn for firebending practice. Sweat plus tears plus sleeping on the floor equaled the _worst_ way to wake up. And Sushi was gone now, probably hunting the roachmice elsewhere in the hold. 

He dragged himself to the shower, and barely resisted just falling asleep again under the hot water. He had to take a moment and press his forehead against the cool metal of the wall, taking deep breaths until he stopped feeling dizzy and disoriented. 

He really wished he'd brought his shoes with him on his little crying-in-the-corner journey, because the floor was _freezing_ as he walked back to his room from the shower, wrapped up in the robe he'd left in the closet _months_ ago. He wanted to just collapse on his bed, but unfortunately, that was occupied by Toklo (curled up at one end) and Jet (sprawled across the whole thing like a sea star-tiger). 

Zuko dragged a blanket and a couple of pillows out of the pile of limbs and spread it out on the floor, close to where the hot water pipes ran. He should have at least an hour before it was really time to get up, he could squeeze in some real sleep. 

He'd just gotten comfortable when someone knocked on the door, dashing his hopes of sleeping in. Muttering some unprincelike curses, he threw the blanket off, stomping as quietly as he could to the door and wrenching it open.

"What in Tui's name of _fu_ —" he broke off when he saw who was outside. "Uncle."

Uncle Iroh beamed at him. "It is good to see you so energized this early! Are you all packed?"

Zuko, still stunned that he'd almost cussed out his _uncle,_ could only blink, and let out an unfortunately voice-cracking syllable. "Packed?" 

"Of course! We are going ashore, after all. It may be a few days before we set sail again, and it will be tedious to go back and forth to retrieve things." Uncle's eyes seemed to search Zuko's face. "Are you alright, Nephew? You don't look well."

 _Yeah, I spent half the night bawling on the floor, it'll do that._ "I'm fine," he lied. 

"Are you sure? We don't have to leave right away." Uncle sighed when Zuko didn't reply. "Get some rest if you need it." 

Zuko sighed. He really _did_ need it. "Alright, Uncle." 

Uncle seemed a little hesitant before pulling Zuko into a hug. Zuko tensed at first, but after a moment relaxed, leaning into the embrace. Uncle always had given good hugs, and that, at least, hadn't changed. 

"Rest well, Zuko. I will see you when you wake up." 

It didn't cross his mind to ask Uncle about his choice until Uncle was already down the corridor and the door was closed behind Zuko. 

He sighed. _Typical._

_~_

Toklo leaned over the side of the boat, trailing his hand in the cool water. The sun was warm on his back, and the wind was a comforting background noise, keeping him from falling asleep because it was _literally the crack of dawn, why were they traveling this early._

Jet seemed to share this sentiment, because he was zonked out with his head on the side of the boat two minutes into the ride. Zuko, in an act of revenge for Jet's stunt with the bowls (which Toklo had tragically missed out on), had taken a brush and ink and written 'Grass Boy' across Jet's forehead (in unnecessarily elegant calligraphy). 

"You're evil," Toklo said as Zuko came back from putting his writing utensils away. Zuko scoffed. 

"No. I could have burned all his hair off or something. He can just wash off the ink," he said, sounding irritated. Toklo frowned. 

"Did you sleep alright?"

"I'm fine. Could you leave me alone?" 

Toklo sighed. "Alright..." 

The boat stopped at the beach with a _bump,_ and the passengers climbed out onto the sand. Toklo helped tie up the boat and unload most of the equipment before flopping down in the sand. 

"What are you _doing?"_ he heard Zuko ask, in a very judging-y way. 

"Chillin'," Toklo answered honestly, to an eye-roll from Zuko as the other boy sat down. "You doing alright? I'm sorry I upset you last night."

"I'm not upset," Zuko said unconvincingly. 

"You're allowed to be —" 

"I'm not!" Zuko snapped, and Sushi materialized out of the sand to protest at her nap being disturbed. "Just mind your own business."

Toklo bit his lip. He was pretty sure this qualified as his business — it was certainly his _fault —_ but Zuko clearly wasn't budging. "Alright. I won't bother you about it." 

Zuko nodded, dragging Sushi into his lap to pet her. "How long do you think it'll take Jet to notice?" he asked after a minute or so.

Toklo looked over to where Jet was scaling a tree, the writing on his forehead still clearly visible and untouched. "It might take a while."

Zuko sighed. "I should've got his eyebrows too." 

"Nah. I think he'd murder you."

Zuko tilted his head. "I guess." He smiled a little, and Toklo's shoulders sunk with relief. "It'd still be funny, though." 

~

Hakoda made them change course, _again,_ and Panuk might have been annoyed if it weren't for the fact that the Fire Nation ship _(Zuko's_ Fire Nation ship) was now in sight, and moored near a decently-uninhabited-looking island. 

He couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing that it looked uninhabited. On the one hand, no civilian casualties if a fight broke out. On the other hand, fewer witnesses in case Zuko's crew decided to try anything. He didn't like the idea of ending up in an unmarked grave without a trace. 

He did, however, understand the intent behind meeting on solid ground rather than one ship or the other. They'd be on even terrain, so to speak, rather than having a power imbalance between their captains. 

~

Akela was really getting sick of this 'being injured' crap. She was starting to miss being able to do chores. It had been over a week already, her arm was healed enough! 

"Get off the ladder, Akela," Panuk said, _again._ "Kustaa said if you bust your stitches again, you're putting 'em back. I don't think he was kidding." 

She rolled her eyes and ignored him, using her 'injured' arm to lift up the spyglass (and pointedly did not make a face at the pain the movement caused). "Looks like some of their crew have gone ashore. I can't make out any blue..."

"Toklo's not gonna be dressed like a tribesman on a ship full of ashmakers. He's smarter than that, now get down from there." 

"Who's gonna make me?" Akela retorted, looking down at her cousin. "That's what I thought." 

"Would you act your age for once?" Panuk crossed his arms. "I'm not above stealing one of those weird birds to write home to your mom."

"You're not the one who's _above_ anything right now, baby cousin." She held onto the ladder with one hand, stretching her leg out to nudge him in the shoulder with her boot. "Shouldn't you be doing chores or something?"

"I'm too busy trying to keep an idiot from falling off a ladder." 

"If I see an idiot, I'll let you know." She put the spyglass in her belt, holding onto the ladder with both hands now. "Go on, I'm fine." 

Panuk sighed heavily. "Stupid," he muttered, walking off. She rolled her eyes, glancing back toward the island before climbing down. 

"How long before we reach them?" she asked Bato, who was standing by the rail, his left shoulder heavily bandaged. He sighed. 

"A couple hours, maybe. Not too long." 

She nodded. "Great." 

"You're not coming, Akela!" Panuk yelled across the deck. She sighed heavily. 

_Jerk._


	9. 9; 'Kustaa may have just started another war.'

Jin stood by the side of the ship, clutching the rail with white-knuckled excitement. On the beach, not too far away now, she could see three figures standing by the water. She bit down on her lip, resisting with much difficulty the impulse to call out. 

_Just a little farther,_ she thought, smiling. _Not long at all._

~

The ship was getting close to the island, and by now there was no mistaking it as anything but the _Akhlut._

"Told you so," Toklo said, elbowing Jet in the side. Jet elbowed him back, scowling.

"Shut up." 

Zuko came over, looking frazzled. "I talked to the crew. I don't think anyone's gonna start a fight now."

Jet sighed. He really _hoped_ not, because he didn't have any weapons with him, and it would suck to be caught in the middle of a fight with nothing to defend himself against firebending. 

He shook off that thought as the first boat appeared, carrying most of the crew that Jet could name.

 _What if that's all that's left? How many of them are still alive?_ part of his brain wondered. _How many of them got hurt in the attack?_

He tried to shake off that thought too. Toklo was just about chewing his own lip off, so Jet figured he was anxious enough for both of them. Zuko just looked like he was about to be sick. 

"Ease up a little." Jet nudged Toklo with his shoulder. "It'll be fine." 

_~_

The boat stopped, resting on the sand mere meters away, and its passengers climbed out, securing it to a stake. 

Zuko found himself counting the passengers, trying to see who was there, who wasn't. Chief Hakoda was, obviously. Tuluk was there — Bato was missing, where was he? — Panuk and Akela, arguing about something. Akela had a bandage wound around her upper arm. Ranalok was there, but Aake wasn't. Kustaa was. And Jin —

Zuko couldn't help feeling worried. She was leaning on a crutch, and when she took a step the hem of her dress shifted enough that he could see the bandages wrapped around her ankle. What had happened to her? Had she been burned? Cut? 

She must have already spotted them, because the moment she was out of the boat she was hobbling toward them as fast as she could. It wasn't very fast, but it still didn't give Zuko enough time to prepare before she threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over. He stumbled, his arms pinned to his sides, and smiled at Toklo's slightly panicked expression as she dragged him into the hug as well. 

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She pulled back, tears pouring down her cheeks even as her smile threatened to split her face in half. "I was so worried. I missed you so much —" She broke off, dragging them back in. "Jet, get over here, my arms aren't long enough to reach you." 

Jet joined them, squeezing in on Zuko's right side. "How's the ankle?" he asked. 

Jin smiled a little, wiping away her tears. "Sprained, but I'll be fine. Are you guys all okay? We saw the sunken ship, and we all thought you'd gone down with it, but then we found out _you_ were the ones who sunk it, and you'd escaped — how'd you escape?"

Jet interrupted before Zuko could say anything. "Zuko picked the lock. We wouldn't have been able to get out without him." 

Zuko looked at Jet, surprised. Jet wasn't lying, they might _not_ have gotten out if Zuko hadn't picked the locks, but he hadn't expected _Jet_ of all people to give Zuko the credit. 

He was startled out of his surprise by Jin grabbing him by the shoulders and kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you and your slightly suspect skill set for saving the day," she said, ruffling his hair. Zuko felt his face heat up, and he heard Toklo snickering behind his hand. 

"It was Jet's idea," he said, pushing down the impulse to stomp on Toklo's foot. "He's the one whose boot buckle picked the lock." 

"True," Jet acknowledged, and _there_ was the smug tone Zuko had expected. "And my idea to blow up the ship." 

Jin smiled, kissing him on the cheek too. "Your contributions are noted." 

Jet's face went red, but he disappointingly didn't lose his smirk. "Thanks. Zuko, should we tell your uncle they're here?"

Zuko looked up. Akela and Panuk waved, before getting distracted by something. Zuko followed their line of sight. "Uh. I think he's already noticed." 

Uncle was strolling over toward the _Akhlut'_ s crew, looking very much like he had noticed their presence. From the look on Chief Hakoda's face and his crossed arms, he had noticed Uncle Iroh's approach as well, and wasn't happy about it.

Jin turned her head. "That's your _Uncle?_ I imagined someone...more intimidating."

Zuko couldn't argue with her; next to Chief Hakoda, Uncle looked downright cuddly. Not to mention _short;_ the Chief had about six inches in height on Uncle Iroh. 

"You are Chief Hakoda?" Uncle said, looking undaunted by the crew's size or obvious (and understandable) distaste. The Chief nodded curtly in reply, and Uncle smiled. "I understand you've taken good care of my nephew over the past months. For that I am very grateful — I don't know what I would have done, had you not rescued him." 

"I presume you're General Iroh, then?" Chief Hakoda asked. 

" _Retired_ General," Uncle corrected with a smile that Chief Hakoda still didn't return. 

The Chief uncrossed his arms. "Then it seems we have a lot to talk about." 

Uncle didn't drop his smile. Hakoda didn't drop his eyebrow. They stared at each other in tense silence. 

Finally, Kustaa broke it. 

"So, General," he said loudly. "I heard you like tea." 

Uncle looked away from Chief Hakoda, laughing. "If I said otherwise, you would have the wrong man!" 

"Well, my nephew gave a very thorough description of you," Kustaa said. 

Iroh frowned at Kustaa, and Zuko felt a wave of foreboding wash over him. 

" _Your_ nephew?" 

Kustaa smirked. "I guess we've got some catching up to do." He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Zuko's Uncle, Kustaa." 

Uncle Iroh looked at Zuko, and Zuko really wished Jin would suddenly get really mad at him and make the ground swallow him up. 

"I see." Uncle clasped Kustaa's arm in greeting; judging by Kustaa's grimace, it was a stronger grip than necessary. "Nice to meet you." 

"Likewise," Kustaa said through his teeth. 

Zuko got the feeling this wasn't going to end well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, the custody battles begin.
> 
> I combed through every main character's wiki image page to get that height difference estimate. It took an hour. I made a chart.


	10. 10; 'tensions are getting a little high between our parent figures here.'

Toklo really couldn't put into words how happy and relieved he was to have his _people_ back. Not having to be the 'responsible' one anymore felt good. He knew he probably needed to learn to step up more, but it had been so draining trying to keep everyone together. Having adults around — ones he _trusted,_ Iroh was nice and all but he was still the _Dragon of the West,_ so he wasn't real high on Toklo's list of People He Trusted — took a lot of stress off of Toklo, and he felt comfortable to chill out for a little while.

"So, how's life on Zuko's ship?" Akela asked, sitting down and using his head as an armrest. She had to actually reach up to do that, and Toklo was a little flattered by the lengths she went to casually annoy him.

"Boring," Jet suggested from Akela's other side. "Stressful," he added after a moment. "Don't wanna do it again."

"Accurate," Zuko chipped in, looking up from Jin's head in his lap. "It kinda sucked."

Toklo nodded in agreement. "That sums it up."

Jin reached up to poke Zuko's shoulder. "So you're coming back on the _Akhlut,_ right?" 

Zuko tensed, his face expressionless. 

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I don't want to leave Uncle again. But..."

Jin sat up, putting her arm around him. "It's a tough choice. You don't have to make it right away."

Akela nodded. "It's not easy to leave your family. Or to choose between people who you care about."

Zuko looked down, clenching his fists in the sand. "I know." 

"If you choose your uncle, none of us will be mad at you." Panuk reached over, ruffling Zuko's hair. "It's _your_ choice, remember that. Choose what's best for you." 

"I wish I didn't _have_ to choose," Zuko grumbled, picking a shell out of the sand. 

"Couldn't you just, I dunno, bring your Uncle with you?" Jin asked. Akela snorted.

"Oh, yeah. The Dragon of the West on the our ship?" She sighed, shaking her head. "He'd be a great asset in the war, that's for sure, but I can think of a few crewmembers who'd be opposed to the idea." 

Zuko sighed. "Akela's right. Uncle wouldn't be welcome." 

He stood up, looking miserable. "I'm gonna go get some tea. Anyone else?" 

Jin reached up to squeeze his wrist. "Could you get me some, please?" 

"Can I have some too?" Jet asked. 

Zuko nodded, gripping Jin's wrist for a second before letting go, and heading to the tent where Hakoda, Iroh, and, at the healer's insistence, Kustaa, had gone to discuss war stuff over tea. 

Toklo sighed and moved Akela's elbow off his head. "I miss when we didn't have to worry about this kind of crap."

"You and me both," Akela muttered, stretching and wincing. "Ugh. This arm..."

"It might not hurt so much if you rested it like Kustaa said," Panuk said smugly. 

"Whatever, ass-for-brains," she retorted. 

Toklo smiled a little. It was good having those two back. 

~

Zuko reached the entrance to the tent, pausing to listen to the conversation going on inside. If it was something important, he wanted to hear at least some of it before interrupting. 

"...to allow _him_ the choice, Iroh?" Chief Hakoda was saying. 

"With all due respect, my nephew is only thirteen years old. If his decision puts him in danger, I won't allow it. He has had enough of this war." 

"Haven't we all," Kustaa said. " _We're_ not the ones dragging him into it. He'll be in it no matter where he goes. We're just the ones who had to tell him everything that had been _kept_ from him." 

Zuko bit his lip. Turned around, and went back to the others. Tea could wait. He didn't want to be anywhere near this tent if things got ugly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry for how long this took for how short it is, I'm having a tough time trying to figure out exactly what's gonna happen and how Zuko's gonna make his choice, and how he's gonna come to it. This is very much a filler, sorry.


	11. 11; 'Kustaa knows all about diplomacy. he just does not care at the moment.'

Hakoda wished Kustaa would stop talking. It was doing nothing to help their case. Oh, he got the point across just fine, but he didn't know the first thing about diplomacy (or just didn't care — Hakoda was leaning towards that option). And Hakoda couldn't tell him to quit without inviting suspicion from the _Firelord's brother._ Why had he brought Kustaa? No, why had Kustaa _tagged along?_

"I have something to ask you about, Iroh," he interrupted, hoping it would stop Kustaa's unveiled barbs toward the General. "Zuko wrote to you. He never got a response, and the next time we made port we found the wanted poster." 

"I did not betray my nephew, if that is what you are insinuating," Iroh said, his tone light but the look in his eyes dark. "I was going to start writing back, in fact, when I found out my nephew had been captured by Admiral Chan. Strangely, the Admiral was the one who informed me. Had he not thought to write, I might not have found out until Zuko and his friends were back in the Fire Nation." 

Hakoda winced at the reminder. "I apologize. We had...complications." At the General's suspicious look, he added, "I couldn't be sure you wouldn't be angry at him for being captured." 

"I see." General Iroh sipped his tea. "I assure you, I do not blame Zuko for what happened, nor would I punish him for defending himself against Zhao."

"Well, forgive me for being cautious, _Your Majesty,"_ Hakoda replied, laying emphasis on the title. The General was still Fire Nation royalty; still the Firelord's brother. "I know how your brother deals with his children's perceived failures. I wasn't going to risk you doing the same." 

The General lowered his cup of tea, sighing. "Zuko has been through much at my brother's hands, and I have not always been there to protect him. That is one of my greatest regrets. But I have never, and would never raise a hand against him."

Kustaa raised an eyebrow. "Only let him believe the Firelord wanted him back, and didn't bother to tell him about the whole war going on, right? And what do you plan to do when there's a bounty on both your heads, and one of your crewmembers decides their wallet's gotten thin?"

"Kustaa." Hakoda held his hand out. "Calm down."

"That's funny, actually," Iroh said, now smiling unpleasantly. "Considering that in my most recent letter from Zuko, I learned that you originally planned to ransom him to Ozai." 

Hakoda frowned. "He agreed to our terms, and told us his father would accept him back. We weren't turning him in for monetary gain, we were returning him home because he didn't belong on our ship, and hoped the Firelord would return our _stolen_ waterbenders in exchange. At the time I was suspicious of _you,_ for taking an injured _kid_ out to sea." He looked over the General. "In truth, I'm still not sure how I feel about that. Or the _bright_ decision to appoint him in charge of a ship," he added. 

The General looked guilty, and Hakoda couldn't help feeling satisfied. 

"I admit, I may have been too allowing. Zuko insisted —"

"He's a thirteen-year-old kid," Kustaa interrupted. "You can't just give a kid a ship just because they ask for it while they're half-comatose. Especially considering you won't even make an integral decision about his _life_ now." 

Kustaa, Hakoda had to admit, was completely right in that regard. And, he had to admit, it had hit a little close to home. Had he put too much responsibility on his own kids? They had Mom with them to help, and the village wasn't _that_ big, and they'd been raised knowing how to make decisions for the Tribe, but he had ultimately left two preteens (no, one preteen, Sokka had turned thirteen half a month ago) in charge of the whole village. 

It wasn't the same, they weren't the _only_ ones in charge. They knew how to get help (though with their combined stubbornness, would they know _when_ to get help?) and, more importantly, knew the people they were trying to lead. They weren't tossed onto a ship with strangers who, if Zuko's (many, concerning) throwaway comments were to be believed, would turn on them if given the chance. 

Still. They were _kids_. They ought to be allowed to _be_ kids. He couldn't give them that, but that didn't mean they or Zuko or _any_ of them should have to grow up so fast. 

"The fact remains, General, that Zuko should be allowed to make this choice for himself," he said. "This isn't up to you or me." 

"Well said," Kustaa remarked. The General sighed. 

"I suppose you're right. I have been selfish. I simply did not want to lose my nephew again," he said. "I agree to let Zuko make his _own_ choice on the matter, and respect his wishes." 

Hakoda nodded. "I'll do the same." 

Surprisingly, the General offered his hand first; Hakoda gripped his forearm, shaking it firmly. 

~

Zuko came back without the tea. This was fine with Jet; he didn't like tea that much anyway, and didn't really know why he'd asked for it. 

"Out of tea," Zuko said, which was such a blatant lie Jet almost laughed. That old guy didn't seem like he ever ran out of tea. More likely, Zuko didn't want to get in the way of a blood feud in the making. 

"That's fine." Jin leaned on Zuko's shoulder, sighing. "Too tired."

Toklo huffed, raising an eyebrow. "The sun isn't even all the way down," he pointed out. 

Jin shook her head. "Didn't sleep a whole lot...while you guys were gone." She punctuated her sentence with a yawn. Toklo sobered. 

"Let's start setting up camp, then. I'll get some wood for a fire." 

~

The night air was just a little chilly, and Jin was very grateful they had a firebender sharing the tent. And even more grateful that it was _her_ firebender — and she had all three of her boys back, and it was better than she'd imagined. 

(Absently, she wondered when she'd started considering Jet one of her boys. Pretty recently, she guessed.)

She settled down into the pile of blankets, laying her head on Toklo's shoulder. He ruffled her hair, smiling. Zuko was lying on the floor, holding a catopus up in the air with its forehead pressed against his, like it might reveal the secrets of life, and Jet sat in the corner with a mirror, scowling at Zuko's reflection while he scrubbed the writing off his forehead. 

It felt like being back on the ship again, though in closer quarters, and with earth underneath her, through the thin tent floor. 

"Night, guys," Jin said tiredly, closing her eyes. 

The chorus of "Night, Jin" was music to her ears. She got to sleep easier than she had in days. 


	12. 12; 'bug bites: just the worst'

Uncle and Kustaa were both acting _weird._ Like, weirder than usual. Zuko got the feeling Kustaa didn't come to the same agreement with Uncle that Chief Hakoda had. 

"Nephew!" the Healer said, grinning. "I need help making a poultice for Jin's ankle, care to help me?"

Zuko looked at him, frowning. "I—"

"Oh, but Zuko has firebending to practice, right, _Nephew?_ " Uncle said loudly, earning a scowl from Kustaa. 

"Well, I'm—"

"He practiced his firebending earlier, didn't you, Zuko?"

"Yeah I did," Zuko sighed. "But—"

"Well, there is no such thing as too much practice!" 

"Horse-bull, I won't have _my_ nephew pulling a muscle to make some fancy sparks."

"I think you'll find _my_ nephew is more resilient than he looks!" 

"Well, I'll keep that in mind when I see _your_ nephew, General." 

Zuko groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Uncle." 

Both Uncle and Kustaa looked at him. "Yes?" they said at the same time. 

"Uncle _Iroh."_ He groaned again, frustrated. "Would you stop... _competing,_ or whatever it is you're doing?" 

Kustaa snorted. "Isn't much of a competition if you ask me." Uncle glared daggers at the Healer, who smiled. 

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"I am going fishing with Toklo. I will be back _later."_

Uncle Iroh looked disappointed, like maybe he actually wanted Zuko to practice firebending with him. "Alright," he sighed. "Be safe." 

Zuko rolled his eyes. "I'm going _fishing._ What could happen?"

~

Zuko's statement held true for the first half-hour; the water was calm, the fish were plentiful, and the weather was pleasantly peaceful. 

Then, everything changed when an insect decided Zuko's fishing pole was the optimal place to rest. 

~

"Ow ow ow ow ow _ow!"_

"Hold still, stop — stop waving it around!" Toklo grabbed Zuko's wrist, holding his hand still. "Looks like a bite."

"Yeah, no shit!" Zuko jerked his hand away. "Don't poke it, are you _crazy?"_

"We should get Kustaa to look at that," Toklo said. "Looks pretty bad." 

"I didn't even get the fish," Zuko said mournfully, with a valiant effort at not whining it. Toklo ruffled his hair.

"It's fine, we've got plenty. Let's head back to camp and get that —"

"Ow! I said not to poke it!" 

"Sorry, didn't mean to — let's get it fixed up." 

~

"Spider-wasp."

"The book says snake-wasp." 

"My _experience_ says spider-wasp! If it was a snake-wasp his whole arm would be purple. The only snake-wasps in this part of the Earth Kingdom have lethal bites, and snake-bees have too little venom to cause that much swelling with one bite!" 

Ex-Healing-Apprentice Akela and Assistant-Doctor Satomi were having a minordisagreement over the diagnosis of Zuko's injury. Zuko swallowed down the urge to intervene, because the only thing more dangerous than two women fighting was two _medically trained_ women fighting. 

"The bite marks match a snake-wasp!" Akela insisted. "Look." She pointed to said bite marks, already significantly swollen, on Zuko's palm. He winced as her light touch started the unbearable itching again. 

"I already told you, there are no snake-wasps that could —"

"Could it be an allergic reaction?" 

Zuko, Akela, Satomi, and Toklo all turned toward the new voice. Panuk raised an eyebrow, awaiting an answer. 

"I'm not _allergic_ to anything," Zuko said. What a stupid questio—

"Maybe you are," Panuk suggested, shrugging one shoulder as he leaned against the folding table the medic had set up. "Maybe you've just never been stung by this particular type." 

"He's got a point," Akela said thoughtfully, tipping her head in Panuk's direction. "Remember that time your Mom got stung by a caribou-wasp? We thought it was a honey-reindeer until she broke out in hives." She grimaced. "Damn invasive species." 

Toklo feigned affront, loosely covering Zuko's ears. "Akela! Not in front of the invasive species!" 

Zuko chuckled, though Satomi didn't look particularly amused. Akela laughed, picking up Zuko's hand again and inspecting the bite more closely.

"Yep, this is definitely a snake-wasp. Look —" she pointed to something Zuko didn't see, but was apparently evidence. "Spider-wasps only leave one or two holes. There's more than two here, though they didn't all break the skin." 

Satomi rolled her eyes. "I suppose you would know, O wise teenager with your all-encompassing knowledge of insects from _books_." 

Akela smiled widely, and Zuko was pretty sure his blood froze. It was the kind of smile that showed she was barely resisting a strangulation attempt. "Well, we can't all learn from experience during _conquests,_ you know. Wouldn't want to butt in on _your_ thing."

Satomi's face went red. She scowled, standing up, and lunged toward Akela; Akela was on her feet in a flash, picking up a scalpel from the table and holding it between herself and the medic. Satomi reached for another scalpel. 

"Satomi!" Zuko stood, throwing his arm in front of the woman. "Stand down." 

Satomi ground her teeth, glaring daggers at Akela for a few seconds. Her breathing was heavy and forced. "Yes, Captain," she ground out. 

She turned and stalked off. Akela lowered the scalpel, dropping back onto her seat. 

"Well, she's a ray of sunshine," she muttered, holding out her hand. "Come on, let me treat that sting. You're looking blotchier than usual, it might be a side effect." 

Zuko sighed, sitting back down, and let Akela treat the bite on his hand. "I'm sorry about Satomi." 

"Eh. I could handle her. Thanks for not making me have to." She ruffled his hair, which he figured he could allow since she was the one keeping his hand from falling off. 

"You wanna try out fishing again?" Toklo asked, once Akela had Zuko's hand salved and bandaged. 

Zuko flexed his fingers, evaluating the soreness. The salve was already starting to take away the itching and soreness. "Yeah, I think I'll be alright."

"You know, it could've been worse," Toklo said, grinning. "Chief's son once ended up with two fish hooks in his finger." He paused. "Or was it his thumb?" 

Zuko wasn't sure which piece of information to focus on. He decided to ask the more important question first.

"Chief Hakoda has a _son?"_

"Oh, yeah. Sokka. Hasn't he told you?" Toklo looked surprised when Zuko shook his head. "Huh. He's about your age. Really _smart_ , but not always _logical,_ know what I mean?"

Zuko bit his lip. "I didn't know he had any kids."

"Yep. Boy and a girl, Sokka and Katara. I'm surprised you hadn't heard about them." 

Zuko shook his head, his mind reeling with questions. What were they like? What was the Chief like with them, what kind of father was he? What were they like with each other? Were either of them — neither of them could be benders, could they? No, the last waterbender had been killed years ago. He remembered Father receiving the report from one of the fleets. Unless the Chief's daughter was younger than four...

Zuko wondered now if any of the _Akhlut'_ s crew knew that waterbender. Had they been from the same village as the Chief? Or Panuk and Akela? He wasn't going to _ask_ that, that was way overstepping his bounds.

Better focus on a question he _could_ ask. 

"How'd he get two hooks in his thumb?" 

Toklo grinned. "He tried to use one hook to get the other one out." 

Zuko barely repressed an inelegant snort of laughter. But his numerous other questions still hung at the back of his mind. 


	13. 13; ' Zuko has a bad idea that may be a good idea in disguise. only time will tell.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw/cw: Brief discussion of needles and piercing, no description of the action, but if you need to skip it starts from "Akela?" and ends at "Nice earring, Jet."

Zuko was starting to get used to the smell of fish. That was probably good, considering it was gonna be a long time before it faded from his hand. 

"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner," Toklo marveled, dropping another fish into Zuko's hand. "Firebender-cooked fish has to be the _best_ idea in the world."

"Glad you're enjoying this," Zuko said, holding the fish at arm's length before heating it up. "How many are left?" 

"Just two. Hopefully it's enough, we've got twice as many mouths to feed now." 

In an effort at making peace, Uncle had suggested the two crews dine together that night. Chief Hakoda had agreed, and given his crew a long talk about keeping the peace; Zuko had felt the need to give his crew the same talk, after the incident with Satomi (the medic had elected to take an early dinner in her tent rather than join them. Akela had reacted positively to the news). 

"Uncle better not start another fight," Zuko grumbled, setting the cooked fish on a plate. "Kustaa, either. I'm starting to get sick of both of them!" 

"It'll be fine! Your uncle's the one who suggested this, remember?" Toklo ruffled Zuko's hair with a gross, fish-greasy hand, and Zuko scowled at him. "Oops. Sorry. I won't do that again."

"You're lucky one of my hands is maimed and the other one's holding a fish, or else I would have strangled you," Zuko said, holding up the slightly-burnt fish to emphasize his point. 

"That's so sweet of you," Toklo deadpanned. "Real wonderful sibling bonding we've got going here." 

"Just shut up and give me the next fish." 

~

"Akela?"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?" 

His cousin looked up, with the most _'duh'_ expression Panuk had ever seen. "What's it look like?" 

"It _looks_ like you're torturing Jet with a needle, Akela, and that better not be what you're doing." 

"Hi, Panuk," Jet said, waving. His head laid in Akela's lap, his hair pulled back away from his ear. Akela sighed, rolling her eyes, and lowered her needle. 

"What do you want, Panuk?" 

"We're eating in five minutes." He raised an eyebrow. "Mind explaining this?"

"I'm getting my ear pierced," Jet said, surprisingly chill for having a sharp object near his face. "Got a problem?" 

"Do you even have an earring to put in it?" Panuk asked skeptically. 

"Jin gave me one of hers so we can match." 

Panuk must have made a face, because Akela made one back at him. "Don't even talk, Mister ' _My-head-is-more-beads-than-hair'_." 

"I wasn't!" Panuk defended. "I have nothing against jewelry! I'm sure it's a perfectly respectable, manly —"

"Finish that sentence and Jet's ear won't be the only thing getting punctured," Akela said, in her Threatening Voice. The one that _sounded_ all sweet and nice but was accompanied by a wolfshark grin. Panuk shut his mouth. 

"Can you get it over with?" Jet asked impatiently. "My neck hurts." 

Akela nodded. "You sure about this?" she asked, positioning the needle. Jet nodded, and Panuk took that as his cue to exit the area. 

~

"Nice earring, Jet!" Toklo remarked, sitting next to him at dinner. "Hey, it matches Jin's! Zuko, I think you might have some competition," he said, elbowing Zuko in the side. Jet chuckled at Zuko's reddening face. Zuko scowled, taking a sea prune off Toklo's plate and popping it in his mouth. 

"Nephew," Iroh admonished. "Have your manners been forgotten so easily?" 

Toklo smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it. See —"

Jet tuned Toklo out as he went into an explanation of their dining system, which the General listened to with great interest, and Zuko rolled his eyes. 

"So when I _want_ to annoy you it's suddenly _fine —"_

"Last time, we were all the way across your ship from the mess hall," Toklo interrupted himself. "Different from here, or on our ship." 

Zuko rolled his eyes again. "Whatever." 

~

Toklo sighed, laying down on the beach. The sun had gone down, but the sand was still nice and warm against his back. It felt like he could just sink into it and fall asleep —

There was a suspicious giggling sound nearby. He cracked open one eye and saw Jin and Akela standing side-by-side, smiling innocently while holding something behind their backs. 

"Guys? What are you — GAH!" He recoiled and landed flat on his back as he found himself doused head-to-toe in cold water. The girls cackled, high-fiving, and hurried off as fast as Jin could go on her crutch, leaving him soaked and now covered in wet sand. 

Zuko came over, his hair dripping, dragging a wet shirt behind him. "They got you too?" 

Toklo nodded solemnly. Zuko sighed, plopping down on the ground beside him. "Girls are crazy."

"Mhm." Toklo crossed his arms, resting his elbows on his knees and sighing. "I wonder how Kumiko's doing. I miss her."

"You knew her for a solid _hour_ , Toklo."

"And? She's still my girlfriend." 

"Have you even written to her _once_ since meeting her?"

"Twice," Toklo corrected. "What about you? Did you ever write back to your girlfriend?"

Zuko's shoulders sunk. "No. She wouldn't be allowed to read it anyway. I don't think I can even write to _Azula_ anymore." 

Toklo recalled the letter Zuko's sister had sent, and wondered why he would _want_ to contact her. "That sucks," he said in an effort at being sympathetic, wiggling his toes to remove the sand stuck between them. "Do you miss her?" 

Zuko was quiet for a long time, drawing patterns on the sand with his fingertips. "You remember the letter she sent?" 

Toklo nodded. "Couldn't forget it. Burned into my brain." 

"She wasn't always like that. Not until she started firebending, and I wasn't as good as her. I wasn't her cool big brother anymore, I was a pathetic firebender who was better with pathetic non-bending weapons. And then after Mom left there was nobody to stop her from just doing and saying whatever she wanted, or whatever Father told her to." 

"Your mom left?" Toklo asked before he could stop himself; he winced at his own tactlessness. 

"Left. Died. I don't know." Zuko drew in on himself further. "I woke up and she was gone. And Firelord Azulon was dead, and he'd named my dad his heir instead of Uncle." He took in a deep breath. "I guess that's when it all started going downhill." 

Toklo kind of thought it probably started a lot earlier than that, but he wasn't gonna say it. 

"Anyway, I miss how Azula used to be," Zuko said. "And I think, somewhere in her, she still cares. She's just doing what Dad tells her to." 

Toklo nodded slightly. 

They settled into silence, until it was broken by a shrill screech in the distance, followed by loud laughter. Toklo smiled a little. 

"Sounds like they got Jet." 

~

Zuko spent the better part of the night awake, frowning up at the ceiling of the tent. His conversation with Toklo had stuck with him, and from it he was starting to get an idea; now he didn't think he could sleep until he acted on it. 

Wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, he crawled out of his sleeping bag, stepping over Toklo and Jet to get to the exit. He stepped outside and crept past the sailors from both ships who were still awake, heading for Uncle's tent. 

"Uncle?" he said, the whisper still sounding too loud in the night's quiet. 

"Come in, Nephew." 

He stepped into the tent, finding his Uncle sitting with his candles and meditating. Zuko took a deep breath, and the candles flickered at the disturbance.

"I've made my decision, Uncle." 

Uncle tilted his head slightly. "Have you? And what have you decided?" 

"I'm staying with Chief Hakoda. For now, at least." 

Uncle's brows rose in surprise. "Are you? I respect your choice, but are you sure you would not like to think on it a little longer?"

"No. I'm positive. I can't go with you," Zuko paused, thinking how to word this. "because you need to go back to the Fire Nation, and..." _This is a horrible idea why am I doing this —_ "...kidnap...Azula?" 

~

Iroh sighed. This was going to be an _interesting_ discussion. 


	14. 14; 'everyone's picking on Zuko'

Zuko stood by the rail, watching the sea, the wind blowing his hair back from his face. In the distance, he saw Uncle wave from the deck of the _Wani;_ he waved back, trying to ignore the pang of sadness he felt seeing his uncle leave again. They'd only had that couple of days with each other after Zuko had made his decision, and most of that was spent going over maps and coming up with cover stories and convincing both crews that Zuko's idea wasn't going to backfire horribly.

 _He'll be back,_ he told himself. _And Azula will be with him. You'll see him again._

Still, he wished they'd had more time. But the _Akhlut_ had to move on, and meet up with the other ships at Chameleon Bay. And it wasn't long until they'd get there. 

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Chief Hakoda asked. "It isn't too late to send a boat over." 

Zuko shook his head. "I'm staying here," he said firmly. "I can't go back to the Fire Nation, and I can't let Azula stay there. Uncle has to get her out." 

The Chief raised an eyebrow. "The same sister who threatened you multiple times?" 

_She's done more than threaten me,_ Zuko thought; he did not say it out loud. The Chief didn't need another reason to be wary. "I'm sure it'll be fine." _Mostly,_ he did not add. "Besides, I'm safe, so you're not in any danger from her!" _Probably,_ he _also_ did not add _._

The Chief, still looking skeptical, sighed. "Alright. If you say so." 

He ruffled Zuko's hair before walking away. Zuko rolled his eyes, straightening out the mess that now resided on top of his head. Ever since it had been cut, there were two or three places right at his crown that were too short to stay down by their own weight and tended to stick straight up whenever someone so much as _looked_ at them with the _intent_ of touching, and it was a pain to get them to lay flat again. 

"Hey, Zuko! Wanna come help swab the deck?" Toklo asked, coming up behind Zuko and messing up his hair all over again. Zuko sighed. 

"Remember what happened last time?" he asked. It had been over a month since that had happened but sometimes he swore his right cheek _still_ felt sore from the mop handle hitting it. Repeatedly.

"That was the goat-goose's fault, and you know it." 

"Her _name_ is _Yuki,"_ Zuko reminded him, _again._ Not that he thought Toklo _needed_ reminding, he was doing this on purpose, but it was the principle of the thing. "And you're the one who stepped on her." 

"I did not _step_ on her," Toklo said, very matter-of-fact. "I _nudged_ her _gently_ aside with my boot. She's the one who got violent." 

"Because you —" Zuko forced himself to stop, and take a deep breath, and count to ten. "Fine, I'll help. Where's the mop?" 

"Same place as always. We'll have to holystone first, remember?" 

Zuko grimaced. Jin normally did that part, using her earthbending to move the sandstone across the deck. Having to do it by hand was going to add more time to their work. 

"Come on!" Toklo said, messing up Zuko's hair _again._ "If we get started now, we'll be done before dinner."

Zuko glared at him, but followed him to get the supplies. 

~

"Tired?" 

"No," Zuko grumbled back at Jin, despite the fact that he was leaning on a chair to keep his balance. "I'm fine." 

"Well, sit down anyway." Jin pushed the chair out for him with her foot, her hands busy with the peeling of a pile of appletatoes. Zuko rolled his eyes, dropping into the chair and stealing a large strip of peel from the table. 

"Zuko, don't eat that," she admonished, too late; he had already shoved it in his mouth, deliberately making eye contact.

"You don't control my life," he said, muffled.

"You know, I read somewhere that eating those things can liquefy your brains," Akela said, looking up from the garlic she was mincing. "Then it just comes out your nose. Super gross." 

"That's not true," Zuko scoffed. 

"Is too," Akela retorted.

"Prove it." 

Akela turned away from the counter, her hands on her hips. "Fine, I will. HEY, KUSTAA!" 

The Healer stuck his head through the doorway. "Yes?"

"Isn't it true that if you eat appletato peels your brains will come out your nose?"

Kustaa shook his head, scoffing impatiently. "Of course not." 

Zuko smirked triumphantly at Akela, picking up another piece of peel. "See? I told y—!"

"Appletato peels liquefy the skeletal system. It's onion peel that gets the brains." 

~

Zuko suddenly found his respiratory system compromised by a large chunk of appletato peel going down the wrong pipe. 

~

"Are you alright?" Akela asked (from a safe distance) once Zuko was done gasping for breath. "Kustaa was just kidding. You're not gonna lose your bones. Or your brains, not that you have much to begin with."

Zuko glared at her. She pretended not to notice.

Jin sat back down in her chair, resuming her peeling now that Zuko was no longer in mortal danger. "You can have the rest of these peels if you want, Zuko," she said with a sweetness that could only be faked; her face twitched like she was hiding a smile. 

Zuko made a face like he would rather lick the mold off the bottom of an old bucket. "No thanks. Lost my appetite."

"So you can stomach appletato peels but not the thought of liquefied bones?" Akela shook her head, clicking her tongue. "What is this world coming to?" 


	15. 15; 'Sushi interferes with the laundry'

Jet was decidedly unenthusiastic about the Fire Princess apparently being recruited to the cause. Especially a Fire Princess who, if Zuko was to be believed, was obedient to the Fire Lord's will, to a fault.

Still, it was nice not having Zuko's crew breathing down his neck, saying things that seemed carefully calculated to make him mad. If it were just him and those sailors, he'd have given in and just decked someone in the face like he longed to do. Instead he had to be _civil,_ and he _hated_ it. He'd tried to stay on the Water Tribe side of the camp as much as he could. 

It was nice to only need to worry about what chores to do, or keeping Zuko's dumbass cat from eating the messenger birds (or the other way around). It was nice to be able to sleep without the ringing of steps on metal waking him up. Nice to wear his own clothes and sleep in his own bed. 

As the days turned into weeks and the ship drew closer to Chameleon Bay, he tried to enjoy the relative peace. 

~

Azula swallowed down her anticipation as she walked into the throne room, kneeling before the curtain of fire between herself and her Father's throne. 

"Rise," he said, and she did. 

"I've received a letter from your Uncle Iroh," he said. "He's on his way home."

Azula hadn't expected that, but she maintained her composure. "Really?"

"Indeed. It seems the news of your brother's betrayal took some time to reach him. He found out through Admiral Chan's report of Zuko's arrest. He received the news of Zuko's escape, and the sinking of Admiral Chan's ship, shortly after." Azula could tell Father was smiling even through the flames between them. "Evidently, even a man like my brother has his limits."

Azula smiled, rather than showing her surprise that her brother had been arrested and escaped — she hadn't known about either, but perhaps Father had only received the news recently. He wouldn't appreciate being interrupted. "My brother is capable of pushing anyone's limits after a while," she said.

Father sighed regretfully. "Yes. It's fortunate we'll no longer have to contend with his behavior. If he chooses to side with the losing team, then he'll learn his lesson by losing with them. If he survived his escape." 

"Indeed." Privately, Azula wondered about that last part. Zuko was dumb at times, but he could be stubborn when it counted. After all, he had survived a burn that might have killed anyone else. (It wouldn't have killed Azula, but would she have gotten it in the first place? _No_ , because _she_ knew how to keep her mouth _shut.)_ His survival instincts tended to kick in at the most _inconvenient_ times. 

"Is that all, Father?" she asked. 

"You may leave," he answered. 

She stood, bowing briefly, and exited the throne room. 

Regardless of whether Zuzu had survived or not, it would be interesting having Uncle Iroh home. Azula had never spent much time around the man — he'd always liked Zuko better, and disregarded her as a little girl who'd enjoy dolls better than knives. It was infuriating, and stupid. 

Now she supposed he wouldn't have the _option_ of ignoring her in favor of her brother, and she might have a chance at _learning_ something from Iroh with Zuzu out of the way. 

~

They were drawing closer to Chameleon Bay. Zuko and Jin would be staying in a small village within walking distance, until Chief Hakoda could explain the situation to the other warriors. 

As soon as Jin's ankle was healed enough, she'd be leaving for Ba Sing Se. They were all doing their best to pretend that wasn't happening. 

Currently, though, Zuko was trying to contend with the catopus who would not leave him alone while he helped with laundry. 

"Sushi, you are going to fall in the tub," he warned, as she leaned off his shoulder to grab at the ties of the shirt he was hanging up. She _mrrow_ ed softly, headbutting him in the face. "No. I'm not giving you kisses, you're being bad," he mumbled, muffled by her fur. "Stop purring."

"That's just _precious,"_ Panuk said, grinning. Zuko gave him his best glare. The effect may have been diminished by Sushi repeatedly jabbing him in the face with her claws to get his attention. 

"Ow! Sushi. Stop that." _Meow!_ "No, _you're_ being mean." 

"Why don't you just put her in the cabin?" Jet asked, like the kind of person who didn't understand cats. 

"She'll just claw at the door until we let her in again," Zuko answered, disentangling his awful child from his shirt and steadfastly resisting her attempts to cuddle. She was being unnecessarily clingy today — literally, as it had taken him a full five minutes to peel her off of his face after waking that morning. 

"Have you fed her?" Toklo asked, 

"She got a whole fish at breakfast," Akela said disapprovingly. "And then hacked half of it up on my shoe later."

"It was only a small fish," Zuko defended. Sushi had been meowing at him pitifully all through breakfast, and he'd gotten too much on his plate anyways. And Akela had shared hers with the dog, but he wasn't judging her for it! "She can't help that her stomach was hurt." 

"Well, she could have found a better place than my _shoe,"_ Akela retorted. "Pass me the soap?" 

Zuko rolled his eyes, and then winced when Sushi smacked him in the face again. "Ouch. She usually only does this to wake me up in the morning." 

"Here, let me help." Toklo picked up a piece of thread from the floor, dangling it over Sushi's head. "Here, kitty kit— _oof!"_ he exclaimed as Sushi tackled him, wrapping around his neck and shoulders like a bizarre fashion statement. Zuko chuckled, and went back to doing laundry unimpeded. 

~

Hakoda sighed, staring at the map in front of him. The updated, non-color-coded map they had picked up after the incident with Zhao. The map showed that they were a day's sail away from their destination; now would be a good time to start packing. Instead, he was trying to figure out how he was going to explain the presence of Firelord Ozai's son on his ship. How _could_ he explain that? He was sure by now that they must have gotten the news, both of Zuko's betrayal and their harboring of him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to get hell for taking the risk. 

_I'll just have to tell them my side of it,_ he decided, sighing. _What can they do about it? It's my ship. If they still don't like it, Zuko might have to stay in town longer, but that'll be less dangerous for him anyway._

He rolled up the map and stood. They were going into town tomorrow morning, to find a place for the kids to stay. 

Maybe he'd pick up some colored inks. He missed his old map. 


	16. 16; 'kids these days, with their unfair amount of pets.'

The Chief and most of the crew had gone on to meet with the rest of the fleet at Chameleon Bay; Tuluk and Panuk had been sent along with Jin, Zuko and Jet to shop and find a place for the kids to stay. 

Unfortunately, that was harder to find than they had anticipated. There was a single inn in the entire town, and the innkeeper had not looked like the friendly type, and had stared for a very long time at Zuko's scar; Panuk had decided easily against having them stay there. They moved on, looking instead for houses or rooms up for rent. 

Luckily, just when they were close to giving up, a woman informed them her brother's house was available if they were looking. They decided to check it out, and followed her directions to a small wooden house not far from the docks where the ship was anchored. 

Panuk stood outside the low fence, looking up at the house. 

"It looks nice," Jin said, leaning on her crutch. Panuk agreed, but thought it would be better to see the inside and speak with the owner first. 

Tuluk was the one who handled the discussion, while Panuk sat outside, supervising the three teenagers. Zuko had brought his pets ( _plural_ , he had two now, which didn't seem fair to Panuk, but Akela had pointed out that Jet had practically adopted all of the messenger birds over the past couple weeks, so if anyone was being unfair it was Jet) and was holding a squirming goose-goat on his lap, letting her chew on his shirt collar, while Sushi chased after leaves blowing across the path.

Panuk's other two charges were tossing a pebble back and forth in a relatively calm game of catch; he was pretty sure Jin was cheating using her bending, but Jet hadn't noticed, and Panuk wasn't about to start a fight. He shook his head, looking away, up at the trees hanging over the fence.

The late summer air felt almost normal by now, but once in a while a cooler breeze would blow by, making him miss home. He knew winter was only a couple months off, but it wouldn't be the same as being back at home, with his family. 

Still, at the very least it would be interesting, to see what an Earth Kingdom winter was like. Already some of the trees were starting to turn shades of red and orange, the way he'd only heard about in stories as a kid, and the summer wasn't even over yet. 

Tuluk came back out of the house. Jin and Jet looked at him in anticipation; Zuko didn't, but he tensed, angling his head just slightly, as he attempted to look like he wasn't paying attention. 

"Do you three want to have a look around?" Tuluk asked. "I think you'll like it." 

~

Zuko's first impression was that it looked bare. 

No, he corrected himself, he was just used to the overdecoration at home and the crowded, lived-in-ness on the ship, so anything less looked stark in comparison. 

Beyond that, it was nice, he guessed; he hadn't really ever been in a house that wasn't the palace or Mai's (neither of which were even in the same category for comparison to this), or Maren and her family's (which had reminded him of a tavern with extra rooms built on, probably because it was). 

Jin and Jet both liked it. He figured this was one thing he could trust their judgement on. 

"What do you think?" Panuk asked them. The owner (a man probably in his twenties with an inordinate amount of freckles) had an expectant look on his face. 

"It's nice," Jin said, running her hand over the woodwork. "It reminds me of home."

Jet nodded, staying silent, his mouth wheat swaying with the movement of his head. Zuko shrugged. 

"I suppose we'll take it," Panuk decided. "Tuluk already discussed the price with you?" 

Zuko tuned out the rest of the discussion, scratching Sushi behind the ears as he looked around. This would be his home for the next few days — weeks, maybe, if the rest of the Southern Water Tribe fleet didn't care for the idea of having him stay in their camp. 

He could get used to it.

~

To say that the rest of the fleet were unhappy with Hakoda's choices would be an understatement; many of them were to the point of frustration, annoyance, or anger. He really couldn't say he blamed them, and in hindsight the whole thing looked like one big stupid decision after another, that could only be justified with "it seemed like a good idea at the time" and "the crew outvoted me" and "he was _crying_ what was I supposed to do?" — in other words, defenses that would not hold up and that he was not going to say out loud. 

Instead he did his best to explain without sounding like an irresponsible madman. His best turned out to be sufficient to at least persuade the others that Zuko wasn't planning to murder them all in their sleep, and that it was better than him being loyal to the Firelord. 

Jin and Jet, thankfully, were easier to explain. The others still weren't happy, but they acquiesced that it was a better arrangement than a child fighting the Fire Nation on his own. And Jin was supposed to leave soon anyway (and Hakoda didn't like the idea of her having to travel to Ba Sing Se alone, so that was another issue he had to find a solution for when there was time). 

After that he sat and allowed the others to catch him and his crew up on what they'd missed. The Fire Navy hadn't managed to make it to the Bay yet, but the rest of the fleet had encountered Fire Navy ships on the way. Not much had happened that Hakoda hadn't heard about through letters. 

Stressful as it had started out, it was good to be back with his tribe. The people he'd grown up with, or watched grow up, even those he had only met to trade goods, or hadn't met until now. It was like a breath of fresh air to watch his crew reunite with family and friends, and do so himself. 

Soon they'd start discussing the important stuff: where the Fire Nation _was_ frequenting, the best plan for taking them out, when to meet again. All things they'd need to think about, to play a part in ending the war. 


	17. 17; 'Sushi would quite like a taste of the human food. please.'

That night was spent back on the ship; they'd start moving into the house in the morning. Panuk had talked to Chief Hakoda earlier, and it seemed like Zuko and Jin would be staying out of the camp for the forseeable future. (Jet was allowed to go for some reason, but Zuko was going to _try_ and not resent him for that). 

Zuko sat on the railing, watching the campfires flickering on the beach, indistinct fragments of speech floating up from the figures gathered around them. He could see Jet, sitting close with the Chief and laughing too loud at something, and he tried to convince himself he wasn't jealous. 

Jin came up, nudging his shoulder and startling him out of his thoughts. "Hey." 

He looked away from the scene on the beach. "Hey." 

"You want to get something to eat? Or do you want to keep angsting in solitude?" she asked. Zuko huffed. 

"I'm not _angsting,"_ he grumbled. "What does that even _mean?"_

Jin rolled her eyes hard enough for them to fall out, and took his hand. "Come on, broody boy. We're getting some food, and you are helping make it. Gotta turn that frown upside-down!" 

Zuko rolled his eyes. Sometimes, Jin said things that made it seem like she'd been possessed by Ty Lee. Agni forbid those two ever be left in a room together. 

"What are we making?" he asked, as Jin pulled him towards the kitchen. 

"We'll see when we get there!" she said cheerfully. 

~

Jin would have been happy making dinner on her own. She never got to do that — someone always had to _help_ , because she had what Akela called a 'shameful intolerance of flavor'. Just because _she_ didn't load everything with salt or spices.

So maybe she would have been ecstatic to have the kitchen to herself, with nobody invading her elbow space or criticizing her perfectly respectable amount of red pepper, _not all of us want to have our tongues melted, Toklo._

But someone really needed to make Zuko stop brooding. It was starting to bring her down, and it couldn't be good for him to stew in all that resentment. Particularly when that resentment seemed directed at Jet. 

So she pulled her companion to the kitchen, and put him on the job of chopping the cabbage. "Take out all that angst on the vegetable." 

He responded with a customary eye-roll, and got to work. 

~

Chopping vegetables, Zuko found, made for a very good stress-relief technique. 

"You know, I think I get what you mean, Jin," he said, looking up from the appletato he was cutting. "I think I do feel better." 

"That's good," Jin said, sniffing and wiping her eyes. "Think you could take over these onions, too? I'm getting emotional." 

Zuko took the cutting board, dicing the onions carefully and adding them to the pan. "What are we making, exactly?" 

"Noodles." Jin put a pot on the stove, pouring in a pitcher of water. "Could you light the stove for me?" 

He sighed, opening the stove door (with some difficulty — it was hard to remember which way to turn the latch). Summoning a small fireball, he quickly directed it toward the coal in the stove and shut the door. 

"Thanks." Jin bumped his shoulder. "I think that's everything. Now, what do you want to do?"

Zuko thought for a moment as he put the dishes in the tub. "Have any ideas?"

Jin smiled. "If my ankle wasn't hurt we could practice swordfighting."

Zuko doubted Chief Hakoda would like them handling weapons without adult supervision, but he couldn't deny that the idea was appealing. He missed being able to spar with Jin. "We could play cards," he suggested. "Jet taught me and Toklo a game." 

"Ooh, alright. Can you teach me?" 

Zuko nodded. "I'll go get the cards. Keep an eye on the food." 

~

"I'm gonna go check on the other kids," Hakoda said, standing. The ship didn't appear to be on fire, but he had no interest in walking into the cabin and finding they'd impaled each other with swords. 

He reached the deck, and could hear both kids' voices in the kitchen. Neither of them sounded particularly panicked, that was good. He opened the door.

"No, Sushi. You can't have this. This is human food, and besides, you already ate." Zuko sat on the floor near the stove, holding a bowl up above his head. His other hand held a small stack of cards. The ship's new resident catopus was meowing plaintively up at the bowl and grabbing for it with her tentacles, while Jin sat across from Zuko, giggling into her hand. 

"Everything alright?" Hakoda asked, stepping into the kitchen. Zuko looked startled, but nodded. 

"Everything's fine," he affirmed, putting down his cards to pry off the tentacle wrapped around his arm. 

"Good." Hakoda smiled. "I just wanted to check up on you. Carry on, don't do anything dangerous." 

"Yes, sir." 

Hakoda went back to the beach, feeling reasonably assured the ship would still be in one piece in the morning. 


	18. 18; 'the tiny fur goddess is relentless. this is a problem.'

Zuko was glad Chief Hakoda had come in when he had; any later, and he would have witnessed the absolute havoc that followed Zuko refusing to share his noodles with his spoiled little scoundrel of a daughter; and it was all because Zuko had forgotten just how high catopuses could jump. 

Sushi had managed to grab not only the bowl, but the pot on the counter as well. The contents of both had been flung out, and Zuko was glad the food had cooled since they took it off the stove, because both he and Jin were covered in the stuff. Sushi and Yuki had been in the line of fire, too, and now there were noodles tracked all over the floor. 

"You just _had_ to bring the catopus," Zuko heard Jin say through the washroom door. Zuko glared at the door, working harder on mopping up the mess. 

"You're in so much trouble," he growled at Sushi, who was sitting on the counter and grooming herself. She looked up, meowing. Zuko raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, you better be sorry." 

Jin came out of the washroom with her hair wrapped in a towel, stepping gingerly around the mess on the floor. "Who were you talking to?" 

"The cat." Zuko glared at his unrepentant child, who meowed at him balefully, like _he_ ought to feel sorry for her getting soup all over the place. "Brat."

"What happened to, 'she's an animal, she can't be held responsible'?" Jin asked, crossing her arms. 

"That only applies when she's _not_ wreaking havoc on purpose!" Zuko retorted. "Look at her. She knows what she did and doesn't care." 

_Mrreow,_ Sushi meowed, proving his point. 

"I see." Jin sighed, shifting her crutch. "Give me the mop, you can go get yourself cleaned up." 

"No. Go sit down." Zuko held onto the mop. "I've got this." 

Jin rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed, navigating her way out of the kitchen. Zuko glared at Sushi again, and kept cleaning. 

~

Jin heard Zuko swearing loudly. She looked up from the scroll she was reading and frowned. "Everything alright in there?"

"Everything's — _ow!_ — fine! Don't come in here— AGH!" 

Now fully concerned, she got to her feet, getting to the door as quickly as her injured foot would allow her. "Zuko, what is going —" she broke off, gasping.

"What did you _do?"_

Zuko looked up, panicked, from the fire spreading across the floor, and blazing on his hands. "Jin!" 

"What happened?" 

Zuko pointed frantically with a flaming hand to the mop bucket. "Just throw the water! Quick!" 

Jin grabbed the bucket, heaving its contents in Zuko's direction. Zuko flinched hard, as the cold water met its target and the fire went out. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, dropping the bucket. "What on earth _happened_ in here?"

"I...I tried to put the fire out, but my bending..." Zuko's hands shook, the water coming off as steam. "I lost control." 

Jin walked over, taking in the open stove door, the blackened place on the floor in front of it. Zuko stared down at the charred wood, looking dismayed.

"Chief Hakoda's going to kill me." 

"No, he isn't." Jin sighed, closing the stove. "Did you get hurt?" 

He shook his head, but his hands were still shaking, and his eyes looked glassy. "I'm fine." 

Jin nodded, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Sit down, alright? Take some deep breaths." She gently pushed him to sit with his back against the wall, kneeling with him; even though he was soaked in cold water, his shoulder felt uncomfortably warm through his clothes. 

"I'm fine," he repeated, his voice breaking. "Just let me — I'm not done cleaning." 

"Nope." Jin stood back up, pouring him a cup of water. "Here. Drink this?"

Zuko gave her a look that was probably trying to be a glare, but looked more like he was about to cry; he took the cup anyways, drawing his knees up and holding the cup close to his chest. He did not drink it. 

Jin suppressed her sigh of exasperation, and sat down in front of him. "Just take a break, alright? It's okay." 

"No it isn't!" he snapped. "It's been months. I should be in control of it." Scowling stubbornly, he dug the heel of his hand into his good eye. "It's pathetic." 

Jin hesitated before speaking again. "Did something _make_ you lose control?"

Zuko looked both embarrassed and angry. "A _spark._ It didn't even get close to my face." 

"Zuko, you can't control what startles you." 

"I'm supposed to! I shouldn't be afraid!" He slammed the cup down, the water splashing out — not that it mattered, the floor was already a mess. "I'm a _firebender._ What's the use if I can't _bend fire?"_

Jin wasn't sure what to say. Zuko clenched his fists, looking at her. His shoulders shook. 

"I'm sorry _,"_ she finally managed, telegraphing her movements as she reached out. There was a moment's hesitancy before he dove forward into her arms. The force of it nearly knocked her over, but she managed to get her balance. 

"There you go," she murmured, wrapping her arms around Zuko, who'd hidden his face in the crook of her neck; he was shaking with quiet sobs he must have been trying hard to mask. Noodles were still tangled in his hair like ribbons, and she was pretty sure he was getting snot on her dress; she couldn't really find it in herself to be annoyed about that. 

"Jin?" Zuko said after a while, his voice muffled in her shoulder. 

"Yeah?" 

"What about the floor? Chief Hakoda's going to be so mad..."

Jin patted his back. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell him it was the cat's fault." 

"You are _not_ framing her! How would she even _do_ that?" 

She smiled. "Not framing if it's technically true." 

" _Ugh_." 


	19. 19; 'moving day! yay!'

Hakoda tried — really tried — not to be upset. But there was a burn mark on the floor, and neither of the kids had said a word about it. He wasn't nearly as concerned about the floor as he was about how it had gotten damaged.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked, managing to stay calm.

"Not really," Zuko replied, looking surly. That look almost managed to cover up how _scared_ the kid was, but his eyes didn't once leave Hakoda, and his hand — which was wrapped in bandages that had _not_ been there yesterday — stayed close to the knife on his belt. 

Hakoda wasn't going to push Zuko for answers. "Jin, what—"

"It was an accident," Jin hurried to say. "It wasn't Zuko's fault." 

"That doesn't answer the question," he said. "What happened?" 

Zuko stayed stubbornly quiet for a few seconds, before hanging his head. "I was trying to put out the fire. I lost control of my bending."

"You were firebending?" Hakoda asked. He wasn't really surprised, but he had _hoped_ that it wouldn't be a bending-related incident. "You know the rule, Zuko. You could have gotten hurt."

"I'm sorry!" Zuko kept his head down. Jin wrapped a hand around his wrist. 

"He was trying to put the fire _out_ , Chief Hakoda." She glanced at Zuko, looking unsure. "...A spark got too close, and it startled him. It wasn't his fault," she repeated. 

Well. That explained a lot. Hakoda sighed. "You still shouldn't have been firebending in the first place."

"I know," Zuko snapped, finally looking up. "I wasn't _trying_ to. I was _trying_ to do the opposite."

Hakoda could almost hear a _'weren't you listening?'_ tacked on at the end. "Bending a fire _out_ is still bending it," he sighed. "You could have just let it die on its own. Next time, do that instead." 

Zuko's face went red. "Well, I didn't think of that at the time," he said defensively. 

_Yes, that much is obvious,_ Hakoda thought. "Try and remember, okay?" 

Zuko looked down at the floor sullenly. "Yes, sir." 

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Jin cleared her throat. 

"I just remembered something. Zuko, come on," she said, pulling Zuko by the wrist out of the kitchen. The door closed with a soft _thud._

~

Jin released Zuko's wrist once they reached the foot of the stairs, and he took the immediate opportunity to fling himself facedown on his bed. He heard Jin give a loud, exasperated sigh and go over to talk with Jet. He ignored that, groaning into his pillow.

 _'Let it die on its own.'_ Of _course_ he'd neglected the obvious solution, and gone right for the stupid one that caused more problems than it solved. ' _Bending a fire out is still bending it.'_ Of _course_ it was, he'd just _stupidly_ forgotten that because it seemed like the opposite of _actual_ firebending. _'Try and remember, okay?'_ like he was some kid who'd left the lid off a jar and let ant-bees get in. 

His face burned with shame. Some cruel voice in his head sneered, _Ha, doesn't that sound familiar?_ and trying to push that thought aside proved futile. He sighed heavily.

"Alright, ladies! Let's get this show on the road," Toklo said, clapping his hands. "We've got some stuff to move and we're gonna move it!" 

Zuko groaned, and decided that, if by some twist of fate he ever got a seat of political power, he'd outlaw _enthusiasm before noon,_ along with _dropping people_ and _chewing on plants and then being mad when the goose-goat steals them._

"Come on, bud." Toklo walked over, poking Zuko in the arm. "We've got work to do." 

"Counterpoint," Zuko said, sitting up. "I don't really _want_ to do the work." 

"Why not?"

"Because my life sucks and I'm embarrassed to exist." 

"Um." The best word to describe Toklo's expression would be ' _Flummoxed_.' "Did something happen?" 

"Zuko set the kitchen on fire," Jet said, like the traitor he was. _Who even told him that? Bet it was Jin._

"I hate you," Zuko said. 

"You did _what?"_ Toklo frowned. "How did you set the _kitchen_ on fire?"

"It was only a little bit," Jin defended. "He didn't mean to."

"Did you get hurt?" Toklo asked, his concerned gaze sweeping over Zuko, up-and-down. Zuko wasn't fast enough to hide his bandaged hands, and Toklo's eyes widened. "Alright. You're gonna have to explain." 

Toklo listened as Zuko explained what had happened, nodding along slowly. 

"You didn't know that was going to happen," he said when Zuko was done. "And yeah, you shouldn't have been firebending, but like I said, how were you supposed to know that putting a fire _out_ would cause that to happen?" 

Zuko let out a frustrated groan, burying his face in his hands. "I learned how to put out a fire before I even learned how to _make_ fire. I should be able to do it." 

"Dude. You've put out plenty of fires. That one just snuck up on you." 

"Not helping," Zuko mumbled. 

"Sorry." 

Zuko heard footsteps, and there was a shift in weight on the bed; he looked up as Jin sat down on his other side, draping her arms around his shoulders. "Bending isn't something you get every time," she said. 

"You think I don't know that?"

"Just reminding you. We all mess up sometimes, and not all of us have a reason for it. You do," she pointed out. "So don't sell yourself short." Across the room, Jet snorted.

"Your abilities, anyway. The rest of you is pretty short," he said.

Zuko glared at him. "Shut up." 

"See? Short temper." Jet gestured with the sword he was polishing, and smirked. Zuko noticed he'd replaced his stupid wheat with an even more stupid foxtail seed head, so now it looked like he'd skewered a caterpillar and was holding it hostage with his mouth. "Then there's your height, and the hair." 

"Didn't I just say to shut up?" Zuko grumbled. 

"Alright, alright." Jet held his hands up. "Sorry. Are you guys gonna get started on moving our stuff or am I gonna have to do it myself?"

Zuko scowled. "Since when are you coming with us?" 

Jet shrugged, taking the foxtail stem out of his mouth. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you, apparently. And I think the Chief wants me out of the way." 

Zuko's displeasure must have been visible, because Jin hugged him tighter. 

"It'll be fine," she reassured. "Didn't you get along with him on your ship?" 

Toklo scoffed, standing up. "Yeah, when I was there to stop them from ripping each other's heads off." He sighed, looking around. "I guess we _should_ get started moving your stuff, though."

Jin released her hold on Zuko, too soon, and let Toklo help her up. As soon as Zuko was on his feet, Toklo dragged him into a hug. 

"You'd better not burn down the house when I'm not there, alright?" he said, tousling Zuko's hair. "Or, you know, at all." 

"No promises," Zuko muttered, leaning into the hug. "I'll try not to."

"That's the spirit!" Toklo pulled back, smiling, and picked up Zuko's sea chest — which was also Jin's, each of their belongings filling only about half of the box — and headed out the door. Zuko rolled his eyes and started gathering up all his things that wouldn't fit in his chest — both sets of dao, the blankets he'd brought back from the _Wani_ so he wouldn't have to keep borrowing furs from the crew's limited bedding, and the bag of scrolls he'd also brought from the _Wani._

He paused at the top of the stairs, taking a look around. For the next few weeks, he was going to be sleeping in a different room, on solid ground, in an actual _house,_ not just in a tent or on the ground. What would he even _do?_ On the ship, there was always something — would he go crazy sitting in a house with no tiller to man, or deck to swab, or nets to fix?

He shook off his worry. He'd break that bridge when he got to it. Besides, there'd be plenty of work to do, putting stuff away and getting the house in order to live in.

Taking a deep breath, he closed the door, turning on his heel and following the others down to the docks. 


	20. 20; 'Jet rolls to seduce. it's a 1.'

"Your Uncle's really coming back?" Ty Lee asked, balancing one-handed atop a tree limb. That stupid braid dangled below her; Azula would just have to tug on it to send her toppling to the ground in a blur of pink. Maybe she'd even land in the pond; that would be funny. 

Unfortunately, Azula's hands were already occupied, trying to harness lightning to hit her target. Technically, she shouldn't be doing this around anyone other than her Sifu, but she was fairly confident she wasn't going to fry anyone — at least, not on accident. 

"Yes, Ty Lee," she said, keeping a carefully patient tone. "That is what I told you."

"I just can't believe it," her friend chirped, vaulting off the tree and landing gracefully on one foot, leaves floating down to the grass at her feet.

Azula could never understand how Ty Lee was so light on her feet. Azula always landed too hard, overbalanced, and landed on her rear, so she stuck with landing on both feet, in a crouch if she could help it; she hated rolling, though. It always mussed her hair. 

But that was off the subject. 

"Believe what? That Uncle gave up trying to get Zuzu back, just like he gave up trying to win Ba Sing Se?" Azula rolled her eyes. "If anything, this is typical of him." 

Ty Lee shrugged, going over to sit next to Mai under the tree. The other girl had been silent since Azula gave them the news. 

"There's no need to look so sullen, Mai," Azula said, getting into position to generate her lightning. "We all _knew_ Zuko wasn't coming back. It's not like anything's changed." 

Mai crossed her arms, looking away. "Whatever," she said under her breath. 

"Are you going to show us your lightning?" Ty Lee asked, leaning forward. "It's so cool that you can do that!" 

Azula smiled. Ty Lee was always so easily impressed; it was one of her best qualities. "Just watch," she said, taking her stance. 

Moments later, white-blue energy shot through the air, hitting its target dead-on. The bush Azula had aimed at burst into flames. 

"Ooh!" Ty Lee looked appropriately amazed, clapping her hands. Mai raised an eyebrow, showing interest and looking marginally less sulky. Azula smiled, satisfied.

~

The house's owner spent a ridiculously long time walking them through every little thing, as if they hadn't been here already _yesterday._

"And you can read any of these books, as long as you return them to their place, please," he said, gesturing to the shelf. "Keep the furniture clean, and _please_ bring the water in through the kitchen door, _not_ over the rug," he stressed.

Jet stopped listening halfway through, focusing instead on memorizing the house's layout and deciding which potted plant was his favorite. And _wow_ , this guy had a _lot_ of potted plants. Jet wondered if he'd given them names. 

_Finally,_ the guy left, and they were able to start putting their stuff away. 

"Dibs on the upstairs bedroom," Jet said; he'd decided on that one almost immediately. There was a decent climbing tree right outside the window, and the sun would be able to wake him in the mornings. (And he'd be _asleep_ in the mornings — no nighttime watch duty. That was going to be weird.) 

"I want the one with the sunflowers," Jin said, referring to one room on the ground floor that had a pattern of tiny sunflowers etched in the floor tiles, painted in light shades well-worn with footsteps. 

"Mm. Good choice," Jet remarked, shifting his sea chest in his arms. "What about you, Zuko?" 

The firebender looked up from his and Jin's shared chest, from where he was fishing his clothes. "The one across from Jin's, I guess," he said. 

Jet didn't remember many details about that room, except the window looking out over the small garden behind the house. "Nice one," he guessed. 

"You guys gonna be alright if I go back to the camp?" Toklo asked. 

"We'll be fine," Jin assured. 

"Alright. You guys be good, alright? Stay safe, have fun, all that stuff." He ruffled Zuko's hair. "Don't be too hard on yourself." 

Zuko scoffed as the door shut, and Jet swore he heard him mimicking Toklo under his breath as he dug out the last of his shirts. "You can have the chest now, Jin." 

Jet helped Jin get the chest to her room before going up to put his own stuff away. 

His hook swords hung on the wall, over the bed, which was big enough for three people to fit on comfortably — Jin's had been the same size, and he had no doubt Zuko's was equally spacious. A far cry from his bunk on the ship — a lot closer to the one on Zuko's ship, in fact. It was gonna take some getting used to. 

He put his sea chest at the foot of the bed, not bothering to take the clothes out. _If it isn't broke,_ _don't fix it, right?_ he thought. He did take out his bedding, and medical supplies, and spare weapons that he hadn't touched since boarding the _Akhlut._ His daggers were slightly salt-crusted, as with everything at the bottom of the chest, but the slingshot was still in decent condition. He put that on the bedside table and resolved to find some good rocks to use with it later. 

Three blankets went on the bed. Jin could have the extras, he decided. He tossed them over his arm, and picked up the bag of medical supplies, which would go in the bathroom, which was downstairs. 

And now, with everything put away, what was there to do? 

_Well,_ he mused, taking note of the empty kitchen. _I suppose we'll need food._

"Who wants to go shopping?" 

~

"This is ridiculous," Zuko muttered under his breath as Jet counted out coins for the merchant. "There is no way a bag of rice should cost that much." 

The merchant sent him a scornful glance, and Zuko realized he might have been talking louder than he meant to. He sent a glare back at her. 

"Alrighty," Jet said, coming back over; he tucked his coin purse into a pocket haphazardly stitched onto his shirt, and took a look at the list in his hand, scrawled in messy writing only he could read. "Fruit next. Let's see what we can find." 

Zuko rolled his eyes. There was literally a fruit stand _right_ across the street. "How about over there?" he suggested, gesturing to it with a flourish he hoped conveyed how _obvious_ the idea was. 

"Great idea!" Jet grinned, the stupid foxtail bouncing with the movement of his teeth. Zuko hoped next time it would hit him right between his stupid eyebrows. He punched Zuko on the shoulder as he passed him to cross the road. 

"I'm starting to hate him again," Zuko muttered, rubbing the sore spot on his arm. It wasn't even a hard punch, Jet had just got him in a sensitive spot. 

"Just let it go, Zuko," Jin said, patting his shoulder and following Jet to the fruit stand. Zuko scowled, trudging after her. 

~

Jin wished she had stayed at the house. Then she wouldn't be overwhelmed with secondhand embarrassment as she was now, watching Jet's attempt to flirt the prices down. 

"This is, somehow, worse than when Uncle does it," Zuko said, his face frozen in a grimace. "Why hasn't he _stopped?_ It's not working!"

"...Of course, I'm sure it's not as sweet as _you,"_ Jet said, winking as he added another pomelon to the basket. The vendor, a pretty girl who was probably about their age, raised an eyebrow. Jin could see the muscles in her jaw twitch as she fought to keep a straight face. 

"...Sure," she forced out. "That's still gonna be a silver piece." She held out her hand. "Or you can put the pomelons back." 

Jet frowned, handing over the money and slinking back to where Zuko and Jin waited. The fruit vendor graciously waited until his back was turned to laugh, muffled by her palm. 

"I can't believe you thought that would _work,"_ Zuko scoffed. Jet shoved the basket at his chest, red-faced. 

"Come on," he growled, stalking off toward the nearest cabbage merchant. Jin and Zuko shared a worried glance before following. 

~

Jet, thankfully, did not attempt to put the moves on the middle-aged cabbage merchant. Zuko had never been more grateful for one of Jet's fits of moping. 

The cabbages were the only _reasonably_ priced thing they'd found all day, but the merchant was ridiculously finicky about them getting too close to his stand. Apparently, it had already collapsed three times that week. It looked like he was getting ready to launch into some story, and Zuko _really_ didn't think they had time, so he shoved some coins into the guy's hand and grabbed a cabbage. 

"My cabbages!" The merchant gasped, reaching to stop several other cabbages from rolling off the pile. "Thank you for your purchase," he added as they walked away. 

"Yeah, no problem! Weirdo," Zuko added under his breath once the merchant was out of earshot. 

Jet sighed, looking into the basket. "Looks like we've got everything. Come on, let's head back home."


	21. 21; 'and that's how Zuko got banned from the kitchen forever :)'

They'd been in the house for almost a week. It was well into autumn by now; the leaves swirled off trees in brilliant shades, and the air had a chill to it that Zuko hadn't felt since his first few weeks on the _Akhlut —_ but it wasn't nearly as _cold_ here. It felt kind of nice. 

Zuko followed Jin and Jet as they all three walked toward the market side of town, Jin holding the list this time. 

"What all are we getting?" Jet asked, leaning over to read it. Jin nudged his shoulder, pausing and leaning on her crutch. 

"Just more rice, some fish, and I was thinking we could go to that fruit stand again. So you could get more of those _sweet_ pomelons." She looked innocently up at Jet, grinning. Jet's face flared red. 

"Shut up, Jin," he muttered. Jin laughed, smacking him on the shoulder and walking on ahead. Jet sighed. 

"Is she this mean to you?" he asked. Zuko shrugged, following Jin and successfully managing not to laugh. 

~

"Jet, could you get the door?" Jin called through the house. Jet was already on his way to the door, and had it open by the time she was done with her sentence. 

"Akela," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?" 

Akela smiled. "Got a letter for Jin, actually." She ruffled Jet's hair. "How're you holding up?" 

"We're doing fine," he said, smiling. "What about you guys?" 

"Not bad. Chief thinks you and Zuko might be able to visit soon." She pulled a face. "Probably so our captain can _evaluate_ you guys or something, make sure you're not trying to kill us, but a visit's a visit." 

He smiled, stepping aside so she could come in. "Jin's in the kitchen, supervising." By _'supervising,'_ he and Jin really meant _'preventing a house fire,'_ but he figured Akela would get that without explanation. 

"Thanks." Akela gave his hair another ruffle, walking toward the kitchen. Jet sank back onto his cushion — quickly sprang back up, after an indignant _MREOW_ alerted him to the catopus carefully camouflaged against the fabric — and sat down on another cushion, once he was sure there were no animals concealed on, in, or around it.

~

Jin sat at the table, clutching the paper in her hands like it was something precious. And it was — Aunt Mei-Li had written to her, and the return address on the letter read _Lower Ring, Ba Sing Se._ Her family had reached the city safely, and if a few relieved tears had slipped out at that news, she didn't try to stop them.

Carefully, she unrolled it, and smiled at the slightly untidy, but instantly recognizable scrawl of her aunt's handwriting. 

_Dearest Niece,_

_Your uncle and I have reached Ba Sing Se in safety. Your baby cousin is healthy and happy; we named her Shufen._ _We hope you'll be here to meet her someday._

Well, that was an odd thing to say. Wasn't it assumed she was going to be there? Puzzled, she read on.

_In other news, there have been some other big changes, and because of this, we've had to rethink our plans._

_Shortly before we left, Fire Nation soldiers attacked the neighbors' house — supposedly somebody inside was plotting a rebellion. Your friend, Eun-ji, made it out, but she was orphaned, and her cousin was arrested for conspiracy. Nobody else would take Eun-ji in, and we couldn't in good conscience leave her; she completed our journey with us, and is helping care for Shufen while your uncle and I work._

Jin quickly squashed down a surge of jealousy. Eun-ji had lost her whole family — if Auntie and Uncle could take care of her, that was a good thing. They had taken Jin in, in much the same way, only a few years ago.

_Unfortunately, this means there is less room in our home than we had hoped, and money doesn't last as long as we expected here._

_I would not ask you this if I didn't feel it was necessary, but do you think you could stay where you are, just for a while longer? If you can't, we'll do what we can to make room for you, but if you don't feel in any danger, it may be better for you to stay there for now. If you're inside the city, you know where we are to visit; if not, find somewhere safe, outside the city, just until we have the room, and money for a ticket — I can promise you that mine will be the first face you see when you step off the ferry. Wherever you are, keep yourself safe, dear._

_Other than what I've mentioned, life in the city isn't all that different from home; the lower ring is mostly small shops selling wares, much like at home; though, the rules are a little stricter on what can and can't be sold. The officials take their images very seriously._

_I hope you're safe, wherever you are. Uncle Enlai and Eun-ji and me send our love, and we all send apologies for the sudden change in plans. Please write back soon._

_Love,_

_Aunt Mei-Li_

Jin lowered the paper to the table, sniffling. It had been so long since she'd talked to her aunt in any respect, and now all of a sudden she was feeling homesick. 

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked, touching her shoulder. She smiled and did her best to dry her eyes. 

"I'm fine," she said, patting his hand. "My aunt and uncle made it to Ba Sing Se safely...I'm just going to have to wait to join them, because money's a little tight now and they don't really have the space." 

"Oh." Zuko looked awkwardly sympathetic, patting her shoulder. "That's...rough." 

Jin chuckled, more tears spilling over. "Yeah. Yeah, it is," she said, giving up on trying to dry her eyes. "I miss them a lot," she admitted. 

Zuko sat down next to her, offering his hand. Jin managed a smile, taking it and pulling his arm over her shoulders. Her head dropped onto his shoulder, and stayed there comfortably. 

For about a minute and a half. Then Jin's nose twitched.

"Hey, do you smell something burning?"

She and Zuko looked up in unison, and Jin let out an involuntary yelp at the sight of smoke coming off the pan on the stove. Zuko drew in a sharp breath.

"Oh, fu—"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Jin's actually going to be staying with them a while longer. This is what happens when you get attached to characters and have little impulse control, guys. This is 'self-indulgent mess' at its finest. 
> 
> I actually have to give my mom credit for helping me come up with a decent reason for Jin not to leave, it's better than anything I could have come up with on my own.


	22. 22; 'nice monologue. please sit back down.'

Jet couldn't help feeling just a little apprehensive as they approached the warriors' camp in the Bay.

There were multiple reasons for this; the first being that Jet was an actual child. Sure, he'd turned fourteen like, two days ago, he was pretty sure that counted for _something,_ and he was tall for his age, and _technically_ on the contract he'd written to join the crew it still said sixteen, so in an alternate situation where he _hadn't_ been lying through his teeth, he would be _seventeen,_ and that was older than Toklo, at least. But in the current, dishonestly-reached situation, he was the youngest person _officially_ in the fleet. 

He specified _officially_ in his internal monologue, because Zuko was there too, looking around the camp with eyes like a startled rabbit-hen. That was the other reason Jet was nervous; because it was painfully obvious that _Zuko_ was, and if Zuko was nervous, that meant they had a living fire hazard on their hands, and Jet didn't fancy having to deal with the repercussions of that. 

Chief Hakoda was standing outside a tent, talking with another warrior Jet didn't recognize. The Chief glanced up for a moment, spotting them, and held one finger up to pause the conversation. He had a smile on his face as he walked over. 

"It's good to see you three again," he said warmly, clasping first Jet's forearm, then Zuko's, then Jin's. "Have you been staying out of trouble?" 

"Yes," Jet and Zuko said, at the same time as Jin said, "More or less." 

Hakoda raised an eyebrow. "I see you're not using your crutch," he observed. Jin smiled widely. 

"Barely even hurts anymore," she said. "Akela says as long as I take it easy, I'll be fine." 

The Chief nodded. "I suppose you'll be on your way soon, then. We'll all be sad to see you go." 

"Well, actually, I was hoping I could stay a while longer," Jin said, sheepish. "My aunt and uncle don't have the money or space to move me in at the moment." 

Hakoda nodded. "I don't have anything against it, but we'll have to wait and see what the captain thinks. Speaking of which..." He glanced back toward the warrior standing impatiently outside the tent. "We may as well start introducing you all. There's a lot to talk about." 

Jet saw Jin and Zuko share a glance, before the Chief turned, beckoning all of them to follow. 

Jet squared his jaw, clenched his fists, and tried to project more confidence than he felt. 

~

Zuko was _tired._ Last night he'd managed to sleep for about three hours — not consecutively — in between stressing over what he was going to say when he met the fleet's captain. He wished Jet hadn't even told him. As much as he hated surprises — Agni knew he'd had enough of those — this might be worse. 

He tried his best to stay awake, pinching the palm of his hand every time he felt like drifting off, and focused on his surroundings. There was a lantern hanging down from the center of the ceiling, giving off enough light to illuminate the furs hung on the walls and spread out on the floor. This wasn't one of the flimsy canvas tents his crew had pitched during the short few days on land; this was a semi-permanent dwelling, clearly built to withstand weather and to house people for long periods of time. 

And there he was, getting sidetracked again. By a _tent._ Great. 

At least he'd managed to keep his mouth shut so far. Chief Hakoda and the captain (who Chief Hakoda had introduced as Tiriaq, Zuko was pretty sure) nodded and responded approvingly whenever Jet had something to add, but Zuko wasn't taking any such chances. _Jet_ wasn't the former Prince of the enemy Nation. So he listened, and tried to fight the urge to just curl up and take a nap. If nothing else, it would be _super embarrassing_ to fall asleep here. 

"I still don't see how it's beneficial to our mission, Chief Hakoda. We already know all we need to about the ships, and it's not as if _he_ is being briefed on where the Navy forces are moving." 

"I don't see how it's detrimental," Chief Hakoda countered calmly. "Having an heir to the Fire Lord on our side could come in handy." 

"A banished heir, wanted for treason?" Tiriaq raised a doubtful, bushy salt-and-pepper eyebrow. "He's barely a teenager, Hakoda." 

Zuko restrained an indignant huff. He was almost fourteen! He wasn't some kid. _Don't interrupt,_ he reminded himself. 

"But he knows his way around a ship, and —" Chief Hakoda cut himself off, sighing. "Thanks to him, we were able to find a formidable ally with inside knowledge." 

Tiriaq's eyebrow stayed right where it was. "Do tell." 

Chief Hakoda glanced at Zuko for a moment. Zuko had a sudden sense of foreboding. "You do remember how I told you we were holding onto Zuko until we could send him back to his uncle?" 

"I recall, yes." 

"Well. He went back to his uncle." 

The eyebrow lowered. So did the corners of Tiriaq's mouth. 

"I'll explain," Chief Hakoda hurried to say. "When the boys were captured by that Fire Nation ship, and escaped, they didn't make it to our ship. Another Fire Nation ship caught up first, belonging to Zuko's uncle." 

Tiriaq's frown stayed in place. "How many uncles does he have?" the captain asked warily. 

"Just the one, that I'm aware of." 

Tiriaq sighed. "So why is the Pr — why is _Zuko_ here?" 

"That's what I'm getting to. When Toklo and Jet were returned, Zuko also chose to stay with us." 

"And you _let_ him?" Tiriaq sounded disapproving, and Zuko might have been offended if it wasn't a good point. 

"For a reason," Hakoda stressed. "Maybe Zuko should explain to you himself." 

Zuko suddenly found both Tiriaq and Chief Hakoda's eyes on him. His mouth felt dry, and the encouraging smile the Chief was giving him didn't do anything to help. 

"Um." 

"Yes?" Tiriaq prompted, now eyeing Chief Hakoda dubiously. 

"It's...kind of hard to explain," Zuko started. "My uncle's on your side now, I guess?" Jet's elbow hit his side, and he backtracked. "I mean, I know. He wants this war to end, and agrees that what we — what the Fire Nation are doing is wrong." 

"Why aren't you with him?" Tiriaq questioned further. Zuko sighed. 

"My li — my sister. She's still in the Fire Nation. She believes everything we've been told all our lives, and _she's_ the one who'll take over if something happens to my — to Ozai."

Zuko's own eyes widened at the realization; The possibility that something _could_ happen to Father hadn't even occurred to him. It still didn't seem like something that was going to happen, nobody was stupid enough to charge into the Caldera, but —

_Damn it. Stay on track. Stupid brain._

"Azula's a lot better of a firebender than me," he continued. "She'll do anything Ozai wants her to, and could get away with _not_ doing what he wants. But if Uncle manages to get her out of there, and she learns the truth..." He forced his hands still, realizing he'd been fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "She'd be good to have on our side." 

Tiriaq frowned. "So this plan relies on recruiting _more_ firebending children?" 

"Better than letting her grow up into a firebending adult who believes all the propaganda they've been selling her since infancy," Hakoda said. "Think about it, Tiriaq. _Both_ the Fire Lord's heirs, plus his brother? We might actually have a shot at ending this war."

"Azula won't go anywhere without Mai and Ty Lee," Zuko added. "They're good fighters." _Scary good._

"Are they _also_ children?" Tiriaq sighed. Zuko didn't feel like answering. 

"Do you have some kind of problem with kids?" Jet asked. Zuko stared at him, appalled. _Are you crazy?_ he thought. _You can't just_ _say that —_ "Because, speaking as someone who's been fighting the Fire Nation since I was eight, while training other kids to do the same," Jet went on, "we're not people you'd want to underestimate." 

Tiriaq shook his head. "You misunderstand. I don't want to put children in danger needlessly."

"We're already in danger," Jet argued. "Do you know how many orphans there are in the Earth Kingdom? Or people whose families can't afford food? Most of them forge their ages on recruitment forms anyway, because dying in battle beats starving to death or watching your family get killed."

Zuko just stared in horrified silence as Jet went on talking. "And then there's the fact that the Fire Nation don't care who they kill, or who they throw in prison, or whose livelihoods they take away. Kids, mothers, fathers —" Zuko thought he saw an odd expression flicker on Chief Hakoda's face; then it disappeared. "I say, whoever can fight back, should be able to. I hate to say it, but our cause needs all the help we can get." 

Tiriaq looked like he didn't know what to do with... _That._ To be honest, Zuko didn't either — he was still focused on the fact that Jet had just spoken, very bluntly, to the captain's face, practically _monologued,_ without being spoken to first. What was the punishment for that in the Water Tribe? Threats of drowning came back to him, but — they wouldn't do that to a _crewmember._ And Tiriaq had just _said_ he wouldn't endanger a kid, but what if that was just talk —

"I suppose the plan is in motion whether I like it or not," Tiriaq said. "As... _rousing_ as that speech was, though, we're not going to recruit any _more_ children," he added, with a pointed look toward Chief Hakoda, before turning to Jet. "And _you'll_ be re-signing that form, with your _real age."_ Jet's face flushed, and Zuko saw Jin hide a giggle behind her hand. Zuko's own shoulders slumped with relief.

"Now," Tiriaq stood, brushing dust off the front of his tunic. "I believe it's around time for lunch. Growing warriors need to eat." 

Zuko's stomach growled quietly in agreement. He waited for Chief Hakoda to stand, before getting to his feet and helping Jin up. They followed the Chief out of the tent, Jet dragging his feet behind him. 

"He didn't actually think anyone _believed_ he was sixteen, did he?" Zuko whispered. 

"Who even knows?" Jin replied. "Just don't mention it to him." 

"I'm mentioning it to him." 

"Don't."

"I'm doing it." 

"What are you two mumbling about?" Jet snapped. 

"Nothing," Zuko lied quickly, scowling back at Jet. Jin sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. 


	23. 23; 'in which Iroh demonstrates his talent as an actor'

Azula stood by the docks beside her father, the setting sun at her back. Ahead of her, where Uncle Iroh's ship _should_ have been visible by now, instead all she saw was open sea, framed by the Great Gates of Azulon. 

"This is taking unusually long," she remarked. "Uncle's not normally one to be so late." 

Father hummed in agreement, still staring straight ahead with an inscrutable expression. 

"If he doesn't appear by dusk, we'll return home," he said. "It won't do wasting our time on my brother's inconsideracy." 

Azula nodded, smoothing down the front of her robes. They were both dressed in slightly more ceremonial clothes than usual today, as was appropriate to welcome home a member of the Royal Family, especially one as esteemed as Uncle Iroh; the material had an unfortunate tendency to wrinkle, and it felt heavy and sticky in the humid air. Azula almost hoped Uncle Iroh wouldn't show up, so they could go ahead and go home, and she could rest well for her firebending lessons in the morning. 

Then she spotted a dark shape on the horizon. As it drew closer, she sighed ruefully. 

"Uncle hasn't even bothered to trade that thing in?" she murmured, looking down at her nails. Even chipped, imperfectly applied polish was better to look at than the rust bucket they'd saddled her brother with at the beginning of his banishment (though, absentmindedly, she decided she ought to fire her manicurist).

"Perhaps he felt sentimental," Father suggested. "That always was his fatal flaw, wasn't it?" 

"Certainly explains why he's late," Azula agreed. 

The ship drew nearer, finally coming to a stop in the harbor. The gangplank gave an unholy _screech_ as it was lowered, and Azula resisted the urge to cover her ears. She had a feeling her ears would be ringing for a while. 

Then the man they'd waited here for _two hours_ to welcome finally made his appearance. 

He looked unusually jolly, for someone returning to a home he'd been so eager to leave when he had the opportunity. Azula remembered that he had been the first to leave the Agni Kai chamber, as soon as the doctors had dragged her brother's near-lifeless body onto a stretcher for transport to the infirmary. Azula hadn't been allowed inside said infirmary — 'not a sight for little girl's eyes,' the nurse had said condescendingly, as if Azula was some mere child — but she remembered hearing the pathetic sobs, and Uncle's equally pathetic attempts to soothe them. 

She also remembered the shouting, when Father delivered the news of Zuko's banishment. Uncle had sounded _livid —_ more like the great general she had heard of than the tea-loving pushover she knew. She gained a little respect for him that day — not much, since that was still the _Fire Lord_ the fool was shouting at. Strength was useless if it was directed in the wrong place.

Uncle's demeanor became stiff and formal as he drew closer; his bow to Father was just deep enough to be polite. 

"Fire Lord," he greeted without much warmth. 

"General," Father returned, inclining his head barely. "I trust you had safe travels?" 

"As safe as one can hope for," Uncle answered. "I apologize for my lateness. The ship's coal engine broke down early this morning, and repairs were necessary." 

Father shared Azula's annoyed glance; the whole situation could have been avoided if Uncle had just purchased a better ship. Uncle seemed oblivious to their annoyance, and he broke into a smile as he turned to Azula. 

"Ah, Azula! It is good to see you. Have you grown taller?" he asked, with clearly exaggerated joy. Azula huffed. 

"It's been half a year," she pointed out, barely managing to keep a sneer out of her voice. "Have you grown wider, Uncle?" 

The corner of Father's mouth turned upward, and Uncle's eyes widened. Then, shockingly, he threw his head back and laughed. 

"I've missed your sense of humor," he said. "Now, let's not stand here in the dark! I'm sure you're both ready to head home." 

_We were **ready** over an hour ago, _she managed not to say aloud. Father waved his hand, and strode back to his palanquin. Azula followed several steps behind, climbing into her slightly smaller, more plainly decorated palanquin. A third palanquin waited behind her for Uncle, but he did not go to it; instead, he stopped Father before he could depart, saying something quietly to him. Father looked annoyed, but nodded, before commanding his palanquin bearers to move on.

They reached the Palace just after the sun disappeared behind the mountains. 

"Run along to your chambers, Azula," Father said. "Your uncle and I have matters to discuss." 

Slightly put out, Azula did indeed go to her chambers. She changed out of the heavy layers of robes into her sleeping clothes, and pulled her hair into a more comfortable (but no less pristine) ponytail. 

Then, taking a dark route through the Palace halls, ducking behind statuary and tapestry when guards or servants passed, she made her way to the throne room. 

Annoyingly, they had replaced her favorite eavesdropping curtain last year; now she had to crouch behind a large plinth holding an ugly vase to stay unseen, while she listened to Father and Uncle speak. The flames in front of the throne burned low, but Father's face was still shrouded in shadow. Uncle knelt on the floor, still looking overly jolly for the humble position. Azula got into a semi-comfortable crouch, and held every muscle still so she could listen uninterrupted by the rustling of her clothes.

"...hy should I allow you to take my daughter on your little trip? So she can turn out a traitor like my son?"

Uncle sighed. "I made a mistake with Zuko, but I promise you I will not do the same with Azula. And it will be good for her to see more of the world! I'm sure she would enjoy learning the firebending forms of the Colonies." 

"I highly doubt that," Father said, scoffing. "Azula has already achieved near mastery of firebending. She's learning to harness lightning now."

Uncle had the decency to sound impressed. "Neither of us could bend lightning before sixteen." 

"Indeed." The pride in Father's voice was easy to hear, and Azula smiled. "Any bending forms from the colonies would be useless." 

"Perhaps," Iroh conceded. "But knowledge is never wasted. And bending is not the only thing there is to know. After all, if Azula is to take the throne someday, would it not be good for her to know what she is ruling? Even you and I accompanied Fire Lord Azulon during several of his trips." 

"We did," Father acknowledged.

"And if she happens to take a military interest, as our father did or as I did, it would be better for her to know the lay of the land, would it not?" Uncle raised his head. "A map can only tell one so much." 

Father sighed. "I suppose learning more about our subjects would be good for her...but I won't send her against her will," he added sharply. "If my daughter chooses to stay here, I will not hear another word from you on the matter. Am I understood?"

Uncle dipped his head. "Yes, Lord Ozai." 

Father stood up, and Azula quietly slipped out of the room, hurrying to her chambers so she wouldn't be caught in the halls. Once she got there, she shut the door, pondering Uncle's offer. _Would_ she want to go to the Colonies? She had heard about them from Mai, whose family often traveled on military or political business; they sounded dreadfully boring, but maybe that was just because it was _Mai_ telling her. 

In truth, the idea intrigued Azula. There wasn't much to do in the Palace of late, and she always did enjoy traveling, and the ocean. Perhaps she would accept. 

Of course, she decided, Ty Lee and Mai would have to come with her — after all, being stuck on a ship with only her Uncle for company, she might just pull a Zuko and fall overboard (on purpose, of course — _she_ wasn't stupid enough to lose her footing). And if she couldn't bring at least one of them with her, then she simply wouldn't go. 

Satisfied with her decision, she climbed into bed. After all, the sooner she got to sleep, the sooner she would get to accept Uncle's proposition. 


	24. 24; 'anyone order a Freedom Fighter, extra crispy?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god, I'm sorry about that title, guys. 
> 
> TW for burning, blood, and general injury, and the implication that Zuko killed a guy. Nothing graphic.

Life in the small Earth Kingdom town was getting easier. Zuko knew his way around a little better; the locals were friendly enough, though many of them still had a tendency to stare at his scar (or just avoid eye contact completely. He honestly preferred that one). Now that they were all three permitted to visit the Water Tribe encampment (as long as they weren't getting in the way), he, Jin and Jet often went over to help with repairing nets or gathering seaweed for the prototype tangle mines Chief Hakoda was working on. Everyone had settled in, and it was starting to feel a little like a home. 

Then, one day, while Zuko and Jet were gathering wood for the stove, they received some _very_ bad news in the form of a fireball sailing overhead. 

"Zuko!" Jet snapped, turning around to glare. 

"It wasn't me!" Zuko protested — but Jet's eyes had gone wide, staring over Zuko's shoulder, his face a mask of horror. 

"Get down!" he yelled, tackling Zuko to the ground just in time for a second fireball to miss them. The Fire Nation soldier came out from between the trees, looming overhead. 

"Stand down!" he commanded, a fist raised to strike. "By order of Fire Lord Ozai, I hereby arrest you for treason!"

Jet sneered at the soldier. "You're not arresting anyone." 

The soldier sneered back mockingly. "And what are _you_ going to do about it?" 

Jet smirked. The next moment had his swords out and hooked around the soldier's ankles in one smooth motion; he tugged sharply and the man went down, shouting in alarm. Zuko drew his swords just in time to block a blow from a second soldier who had appeared on his right. The soldier reared back, clutching the hand Zuko's sword had sliced into, sparks snapping between his teeth as he glared at Zuko. 

"You'll pay for that!" he snarled, raising a fistful of flame. Zuko ducked, and felt the fire skim the ends of his hair. He straightened, raising his swords. 

"Sorry, I'm a little short on cash," he replied, thrusting forward with both blades, toward the soldier's exposed side. The soldier managed to jump back before the swords hit their mark, but Zuko jumped up, delivering a hard kick to the solar plexus that sent the soldier crashing backwards onto the ground. 

Landing heavily on his feet, Zuko glared down at the soldier, who gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of him. 

"How did you get here?" he demanded, holding one sword to the man's neck. "How many more of you are there?" 

"I — we're..." the man wheezed. "The c-camp is —"

Zuko was listening intently, but suddenly an alarmed shout rang out behind him. He turned around to see Jet, disarmed and backed up against a tree. Scowling, Zuko drove his sword through the soldier's clothing into the ground. It ought to hold long enough. 

"Get away from me!" Jet snarled at the soldier, still in a fighting stance as Zuko raced over. From the looks of it, he'd managed to land a punch on the soldier's nose, and he himself looked unharmed apart from some singed hair, but as the soldier raised a hand to strike, already smoking and sparking, Zuko had a sick feeling that wouldn't be for long. 

Thinking quickly, he picked up one of the hook swords and hurled it at the soldier. It didn't hit him, but it was enough of a distraction that Jet was able to escape and pick up the other sword. 

"Thanks," he said, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Don't mention it," Zuko replied; he glanced toward the soldier, his eyes widening. The other soldier had managed to get free, and both of them were getting into a position Zuko recognized. There was going to be a _lot_ of fire coming his way, and he would not be able to deflect it. 

Every muscle screamed at him to jump out of the way. As the wave of fire built, he scrambled backwards, but an ill-placed rock tripped him, and sliced into his leg. He fell backwards, and then crawled until his back was against a tree. By then the fire was rushing toward him, the heat and smoke making his eyes water, making it hard to even breathe. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, raising his hands as a last hope of defense —

Then he heard a _thud,_ and an agonized scream. The heat was gone. He looked down at his unscathed hands, disbelieving — then realized what — or _who —_ had saved him. 

Jet lay on the ground, his face contorted in a silent cry, cradling his arms to his chest. Arms that, at a single glance, Zuko could tell had been burned. The same burn that was on Jet's chest, where the fire had scorched through the thin, flammable fabric of his tunic.

And the soldiers were — one of them was _laughing,_ and Zuko was filled with a rage he didn't remember experiencing before. Gritting his teeth, he picked up his sword in one hand; in the other, to his surprise, he'd managed to conjure a bright flame. 

He looked up at the soldiers. They were both in bending positions now, but slightly relaxed, like they thought the fight was going to be over easily. 

Zuko remembered a trick Lu Ten had taught him a long time ago.

He flicked his sword, and fire blazed up along the blade. 

Alarm blazed up in the soldiers' eyes. 

_~_

The door burst open with a _BANG._ Jin looked up from her knitting, and gasped. 

"Zuko, what happened —?" 

"Jet's hurt," he barked, as if she hadn't gathered that from the angry red color that now covered Jet's arms. Zuko's own hands were splashed with a darker, liquid red as he struggled to support Jet's weight on his shoulder. "Help me." 

She ran over, wincing as she put weight on her ankle. She pushed the tiny bit of pain aside, helping Zuko get Jet to the cushions she'd previously been reclining on. With Jet laying down, Jin could see that the burn also covered much of Jet's chest and a little of his lower jaw. It didn't look like it had gone deep, but judging by the tears flowing down his face, and how pale he was, it hurt a lot. And, spirits, it hurt Jin to see him reduced to this. 

Jin tried to remember what was needed to treat a burn. "Stay here with him," she instructed, because Zuko was shaking like a leaf, and she doubted he'd be able to manage four steps now. He nodded without taking his eyes off Jet. 

Burn salve. Towels. Cool water. Ice? No, not ice. They didn't even _have_ ice. It'd be better to get him into a cool bath but neither of them could carry him that far, and he wasn't walking on his own. And Zuko was hurt too — there was a trail of blood leading across the floor, and it seemed to come from a wound on his leg. Bandages, more water, some tea to calm them all down after the wounds were treated. 

She got what she needed and hurried back to the boys. Zuko's hands were clenched into tight fists in his lap, and tears dripped off his chin. Jet had opened his eyes, tracking Jin's movement with them as she sat at his side. 

"You're gonna be okay," she reassured him, trying to keep her voice and hands steady as she reached out to help him sit up with his back against the bookshelf. He winced when her hand brushed his side, and she murmured an apology. 

"You'll be okay," she repeated. 

"I know," he hissed, more tears squeezing out when he blinked. "Still hurts." 

"I just need you to hold still, okay?" She picked up the jar of salve, popping the cork out.

Zuko swallowed, standing up quickly. "I — I have to go," he choked. "I'm sorry." 

Jin nodded, sympathetic but unsurprised. "It's alright. I'll come bandage your leg once I'm done."

He nodded, limping out of the room. Jin sighed, getting some salve onto a cloth.

"Alright, Jet. Brace yourself."

~

Zuko could still hear Jet's hisses and grunts of pain from his room. Could still smell burnt hair and smoke. 

There was a trail of blood from the door over to where he sat on his bed. His hand wrapped around the back of his leg, putting pressure on the cut. He felt the tiny pinpricks of grit stuck in the cut, but he couldn't clean it right now, it hurt to even put weight on the leg — he just had to wait, Jin would help, once she was done with Jet. Jet was hurt worse, Jet was _burned_ —

And it was _Zuko's fault._ The soldiers had been there for him, his firebending had failed — and then Jet had taken that fire blast _for him._

The thought — that _he_ was the cause for all of this — made him feel sick. Or maybe it was the blood loss. Or one of those concussion things. Maybe it was all three. 

And they were still in danger; Zuko had — he'd _taken care of_ one soldier, but the other had gotten away, and he'd had to get Jet home so he couldn't follow, and no doubt the man had already made it back to his camp by now. They needed to get to the warriors' camp, warn them.

He staggered to his feet, his head spinning, and immediately sank back down. _Shit._ He wasn't making it anywhere like this — getting Jet home seemed to have taken all the energy he could give. 

"Zuko?" 

He looked up. Jin stood in the doorway, holding a bucket and bandages. "I'm here to fix you up."

He blinked. She was already done with Jet? Was he — "Is Jet okay?" 

She nodded, coming over. "He's fine for now. Once you're fixed up I'll run for Kustaa, he can do a better job on both of you than I can." 

_Kustaa. Chief Hakoda._ "Jin, you have to tell them it isn't safe. In the woods — Fire Nation soldiers found us. They were..." He looked away from her shocked expression. "They were there because of me, and Jet got hurt — one of them said there was a camp, and I took out one of them but the other one got away, and I don't know where he went but —"

"Hey." Jin's hands rested lightly on his face, her thumbs brushing away the tears he hadn't realized were falling. "Try not to worry. I'll fix up your leg, and when I go and get Kustaa I'll tell the warriors that you ran into Fire Nation soldiers. They'll take care of it." 

He nodded hesitantly; she gave him a small smile. "Okay. Now tell me where it hurts." 

Zuko lay still, burying his face in his pillow while Jin cleaned and bandaged the cut. Once she'd gotten the grit out, it didn't hurt as badly. 

"Good news is you probably don't need stitches," she said, patting his uninjured leg. "Kustaa should still check you over, but he shouldn't have to do much." 

_Good,_ Zuko thought. _He shouldn't have to deal with my stupid injuries, while Jet's **actually** hurt. _

"Why don't you come back to the sitting room? I'll make some tea, and you can calm down a little."

"I'm calm!" he grumbled, in opposition to the way his heart was still racing. Jin raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Zuko, I'll feel a lot better leaving if you're both in the same room," she said. He sighed, dragging his face out of the depths of his pillow and sitting up. 

"Alright," he conceded. "But I'm taking a bath first." 

Jin smiled a little; it looked a little grimace-y. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." 


	25. 25; 'Hakoda becomes a human pillow'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW for mentions of injury and discussion of Zuko killing a guy

Alarm bells went off in Hakoda's head the moment he saw Jin hurtling down the hill, alone and clearly in a hurry. It felt all too familiar, and he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. 

"Jin!" He called. She skidded to a stop, sand spraying up around her ankles, before changing direction to run to him. 

"Chief Hakoda," she panted. "You've got to come back...Fire Nation soldiers..."

Hakoda's heart skipped a beat, and he drew in a sharp breath. "Fire Nation?" 

"Jet got burned, he and Zuko made it home but one of the soldiers got away —" 

There went his heart again, picking up speed with worry. "Jet got burned?" he asked, images coming to mind unbidden of bloodied snow and unseeing blue eyes. "How badly?" 

"He needs Kustaa, it's not very bad but it's big and I don't know how to treat it."

A weight eased off Hakoda's chest, through worry still stayed — a burn could become infected, and infection could cause all kinds of trouble. "I'll send Kustaa back with you. Follow me."

He went back toward the camp, seeking out the healer, with Jin following behind.

~

Zuko had been 'calming down' for over ten minutes, and he still couldn't get rid of the tightness in his chest, the feeling like he was still covered in sticky, drying blood (even though he'd scrubbed hard enough his skin had gone red), the need to take a deep breath every few seconds, the shaking of his hands that made it hard to hold his tea without spilling it; but if he put the teacup down, they'd shake worse, and then Jet might notice, and that would just be embarrassing. Jet was keeping calm about the situation, Zuko should be able to do the same. 

He took a deep breath — quietly, more shakily than he wanted — and glanced over at the other boy. Jet was looking up at the ceiling, his hands relaxed by his sides, his chest rising and falling evenly. Zuko clenched his teeth to keep a jealous scowl off his face, and looked down at the floor.

 _Shouldn't Jin be back by now?_ he wondered. _How long has she been gone? She wouldn't ditch us, would she? Or...or what if the soldiers got to her, and —_

 _Just shut up. Calm down_. He took a deep breath, finishing off his tea. It didn't help. 

~

Jet silently cursed himself. You don't jump in _front_ of the fire, you get the other person out of the way, that was just _basic_ knowledge — knowledge he'd drilled into the heads of every kid he'd taken in, because one kid getting hurt was just as bad as another, it was better if both of them got out safe — 

In short, what he did was so, _so stupid._

He also cursed the damn firebenders, and their need to interfere in _everything._ The second he got better, he was going to march into their camp and give them a good taste of their own medicine. Teach them to mess with his — was Zuko his friend? Could you take a hit like that for someone _without_ being their friend? Jet was gonna have to clarify that at some point when he felt better.

He took another deep breath — despite the fact that caused his chest to move, which stretched the skin, which _ow —_ and tried for the umpteenth time to keep his jaw from clenching. He really needed something to chew on, but moving his arms was something that was _not_ happening _._ It had been bad enough drinking his tea, he wasn't risking his health further just to get at his nails. 

Besides, he had to stay calm, and he had to _appear_ calm. Zuko was already a nervous wreck, and Jet didn't need to make it worse. It was a good thing he'd had practice around his kids. No reason to make them panic, just pretend it's fine, and take a break from heavy lifting for a little while. (Never very long — there was always food to scavenge, or huts to rebuild after a storm, and if something broken had to set wrong, that was just an occupational hazard). 

He let out an involuntary sigh, and winced as his arm moved. The burn only went from the heel of his palm up to his elbow on each arm, but Jet was starting to realize just how often he normally moved that. To say nothing of his lower jaw and neck, which pulled and stretched _so much,_ how the _hell_ was he supposed to survive while this healed? And the damp towels laid over the burns were _cold._

Zuko's eyes flickered over — eye? Jet had never bothered to find out whether Zuko could see out of the left one. It didn't matter that much, and both eyes could _move,_ so Jet was sticking with 'eyes.' The firebender's eyebrow (now _there_ was a singular Jet could depend on) lowered, and with that face Jet couldn't tell if he was pissed off or concerned. 

"I'm sorry for getting us into that," he grumbled, one hand fidgeting with the bandage on his leg. Jet scoffed. 

"Don't worry about it. It's not like getting attacked by the Fire Nation is anything new." He looked back up at the ceiling. "I'll get better." 

Zuko sighed, but thankfully didn't push it. Jet closed his eyes and tried to get some rest. 

~

Hakoda had been immeasurably relieved when they arrived to the house still standing, the door still locked, and the only person around the woman next door, who gave them an appraising look before resuming her gardening. 

Kustaa took Jet out of the sitting room to treat him. Hakoda listened while Jet explained what had happened, before leaving him in Kustaa's expert care and going back to the sitting room and taking the seat Jet had previously occupied, next to Zuko. The boy's hands trembled holding an empty tea cup, and his eyes darted nervously toward Hakoda. 

Hakoda's eye caught on the bandages around Zuko's leg. Kustaa had examined the wound, declared it wasn't _too_ serious, and done a short row of stitches before tying the bandages again. Zuko had gritted his teeth, every muscle tensed still as he watched the healer's hands, and hadn't made a sound. Hakoda wasn't sure if that could be attributed to stubbornness or shock. Probably a mix of both. 

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked. Zuko nodded without looking up. "I'm proud of you, you know. You managed to hold your own, and get Jet back here —"

"He took a fire blast for me," Zuko said, putting down the cup. "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have gotten hurt. I always mess _everything_ up." 

Hakoda shook his head. "Those soldiers could have found him with or without you. But Jet might not have been able to get home without you. And if he had, he might have been hurt worse because you weren't there to defend him. You didn't mess anything up."

Zuko picked at a loose thread on his cushion for a while. Hakoda stayed quiet, waiting for him to speak. Finally, he did. 

"I killed one of the soldiers," he said quietly. "He — he was laughing, when Jet got hurt, and I..." 

Hakoda's stomach turned. No child should have to kill anyone — Hakoda thought the soldier probably deserved it, but Zuko didn't deserve to be the one doing it. "I'm sorry."

Zuko sniffed. "It's fine," he said, in a slightly strangled voice. "The other one got out of there, and I was able to come back here." 

Hakoda hesitated before putting his arm around Zuko's shoulder. The boy glanced up at him before leaning in and wrapping his arms around Hakoda. He was just tall enough that his head could lay on Hakoda's shoulder; a little taller than Sokka the last time he had seen him. 

Zuko held tightly to Hakoda, trembling turning to quiet sobs. Jin tiptoed into the room, silently sitting on Zuko's other side, running a hand through his hair. The gesture reminded Hakoda so much of Katara, who'd always known what to do to calm the other children in the village when they were hurt or upset. 

Zuko's breathing gradually slowed, and it took Hakoda a moment to realize when he fell asleep. Jin stood up, murmuring something about dinner, and left. 

Hakoda sighed. It seemed there wasn't much to do but accept his fate as a pillow for Zuko, the way he had for his kids hundreds of times. _Kids are like pygmy leopards,_ Kya said once, a tiny Katara asleep on her lap. _Once they fall asleep on you, you're not allowed to move._

Not that Hakoda really thought he could move; both his legs had fallen asleep already. 

He really wished he had taken off his boots before sitting down. 


	26. 26; 'Blue Spirit shenanigans'

Narrowing down the location of the Fire Nation camp had been stupid easy; the soldier had left a decent trail of crushed plants (rude) and blood (gross). Now they were just waiting for night to fall, so they could go in and take them out. 

Toklo was pretty sure he was being followed. He'd gone around the perimeter of the (unnecessarily large) campsite, made note of several (unnecessarily unnecessary) catapults and where the commander's tent was, and the whole time he had the strangest feeling like someone was watching him. When he turned around he just saw a flash of blue and white, so maybe it was just a weird bird, or one of the other guys. He wasn't going to blow his cover trying to investigate. Worst-case scenario — well, he wasn't going to think about _that._

He settled behind a bush, keeping the camp in sight and his hand on the handle of his knife, and awaited Chief Hakoda's signal. When he finally spotted the tiny glow of a lantern in the trees, he moved out, sneaking slowly into the camp. 

~

Whilst busy infiltrating the Fire Nation Army camp, Toklo failed to notice the small dark-clad figure with a blue carved mask and a slight limp dropping from the trees behind him. Zuko thanked all the spirits he could name that he hadn't been spotted yet — he did _not_ want to be sent home. 

This wasn't the first time he'd used Mom's old mask to sneak into someplace. The first time, they were in desperate need of navigational charts and equipment, and Zhao had made them go so far out of their way but there was a communication tower _right there,_ and it was so easy to get in there, grab a few maps and get out. The second time, it had been historical scrolls on the Avatar. The pirates hadn't even noticed him (at least, not until the iguana parrot had spotted him, and by then he was already swimming back towards the _Wani)._ And before that _,_ when they were still on land, he had used it multiple times when they needed supplies. 

This was by far the most mentally and physically taxing, though. His leg still hurt, and it wasn't like he could sneak around in the trees without getting poked by branches or caught on thorns; and the fact that this was actual, full-blown, premeditated _treason_ didn't help ease his stress. He couldn't claim self-defense on this one. If he got captured, it might even be immediate execution. 

For someone who regularly got himself into life-threatening situations, Zuko really did _not_ want to die. He couldn't even blame this one on circumstances, he'd actually _chosen_ to do this. That sucked. 

He adjusted his mask, annoyed with how much it restricted his already limited vision from his left eye, and watched the commander enter his tent. The sun was on its way down, so the commander was probably turning in for the night. 

The Water Tribe men were moving slowly along the edges of the camp, dark blue armor blending with the shadows well. They'd forgone helmets, so Zuko was able to recognize Panuk by the many-colored beads in his hair catching the light, and Bato by just how _tall_ he was, but if Zuko hadn't been looking for them he wouldn't have noticed them at all. 

He hoped he didn't mess this up for them. 

The sky went dark except for the moonlight. All but a few of the soldiers went in their tents, the rest either standing guard or chatting around the fire. Zuko climbed up the tree he'd been hiding behind, and crawled out on a branch right over the commander's tent. 

_No going back after this. Once you've —_

Zuko's thought was interrupted by a loud, ominous _creak_ and an even more ominous _crack._ The branch jolted suddenly under him.

_Uh-oh._

The next moment, Zuko was falling. 

Right through the ceiling of the tent. 

_Uh-oh_ indeed. 

~

Commander Jiro had been halfway through removing his armor for the night when the masked child fell through his ceiling, holding onto a pair of swords. That same moment, an armored teenager burst through the entrance, brandishing a spear. 

The kid stood up, staggering slightly on an injured leg. The teenager froze, staring. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, pointing at the kid.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" the kid fired back, pointing at the teen with his sword. 

"I'm _supposed_ to be here!" the teen defended. "You're supposed to be at home! And what's with the stupid mask?"

The kid made an affronted noise, drawing his shoulders back indignantly. "It's not _stupid,"_ he snapped. "It's the Dark Wa—"

"Whatever! Why are you wearing it?" The teen waved his hand at the kid's oversized dark clothing. "Why are you wearing _that?_ Did you — did you steal that from Jet?" 

"He's not using it," the kid grumbled. "I wanted to help!"

"We told you to stay _home."_

Jiro felt rather like the time he'd walked in on his wife and her mother arguing over the proper way to swaddle a baby. Only this time he couldn't just walk back out and avoid confrontation — the exit was blocked, and if one enemy soldier was in the camp there were bound to be more — now that he listened, he could hear sounds of chaos outside the tent. 

"Dear Agni," he muttered, overwhelmed. His wannabe assailants paused their shouting match to look at him. 

"How did you get to commander rank?" the kid in the mask asked bluntly, taking Jiro by surprise.

"My uncle was in charge of promotion," he answered truthfully. The kid sighed. 

"Great. Nepotism." He brandished his swords. "Alright. Surrender, or —"

"Wait." Jiro held up a finger. "Hold on. I've seen that mask before, I can't put my finger on it." 

The kid lowered his swords slightly. "It's the Dark Water Spirit mask from _Love Amongst the Dragons,"_ he said tentatively. "Is that it?" 

Jiro frowned. "What? No, that's not it." Coming to a conclusion, he snapped his fingers. "Got it! Aren't you the one who broke into the communication tower, early this year?"

The kid froze. "Um. No."

"Yes!" Jiro laughed triumphantly. "The dual swords and mask — they said the person was unusually small." Jiro shook his head. "Because it was a _child._ Of course." 

"I'm not a _child!"_ The kid's voice cracked loud enough to be heard on another planet. He cleared his throat loudly, squaring his shoulders. "I'm almost fourteen!"

"How close is 'almost'?" the teen interjected curiously. 

"A week!" the ~~kid~~ _younger teen_ snapped. 

"Happy early birthday." 

"Piss off." The younger one cleared his throat again, mask turning to face Jiro. "Anyway, I had nothing to do with that break-in you mentioned. That was someone else!" 

Jiro smiled a little. This boy was a terrible liar. "Too late. I've connected the dots." 

"You didn't connect shit," the younger one snapped. _Wow, was I this foul-mouthed at that age?_ "Now surrender!" 

"And don't try anything funny," the older one added, the spear suddenly a lot closer to Jiro's face, and _very_ pointy. "I'm taking you to the Chief. He gets to decide after that." 

Jiro gulped. This had rapidly become an actual serious situation, and it was abundantly clear he was in over his head. _I s_ _hould have just turned down that promotion._

~

Zuko had wanted to help Toklo take the commander to Chief Hakoda. Some selfish, embarrassing part of him wanted the recognition, wanted to be acknowledged for helping accomplish something important. 

Even though he'd been upset about Jet being hurt, it had still given him a warm, _nice_ feeling when Chief Hakoda said he was proud of Zuko for fighting the soldiers and getting Jet home. Zuko hadn't felt that way since Mom left, and maybe following the soldiers tonight was a way to try and get that praise again. 

(Okay, so maybe there was no _'maybe'_ about that.)

In hindsight, it was a stupid idea; a stupid, attention-seeking, childish idea that hadn't even _worked._

 _"Go home, Zuko. You don't need to see this."_ As if he was some kind of little kid who couldn't handle the sight of blood. Who hadn't killed a man a day before. Someone _innocent_ and _fragile._

Right. The universe wouldn't _let_ him be fragile or innocent, it never had. A couple of bodies on a battlefield were the least of his troubles. 

But Toklo just sighed when he said that, and said he didn't want Zuko getting in trouble on his account so could he _please_ just go back home, so Zuko slunk back into the trees like a coward, tied Mom's mask to his belt, and retraced his path back home. 

Climbing back in through his window from the garden was tricky, and he ended up putting more strain on _everything._ Falling out of that tree earlier had put bruises, scratches and Agni knew what else on his _everywhere,_ and while he hadn't noticed it all that much at the time, he was sure feeling it _now._

He collapsed on his bed once he was changed, staring up at the ceiling. His fatigue from being so active battled with his aches and pains keeping him awake; finally, the fatigue won out. 


	27. 27; 'Azula's life-changing field trip is set in motion'

Azula strode calmly into the throne room, kneeling before the throne. "You wish to speak with me, Father?" 

She knew exactly why she'd been summoned, of course; Father wanted to inform her of Uncle's offer, and let her make the choice to leave or stay. But she could wait for him to tell her that. 

"Your uncle has a _proposition_ for you," Father said, equal amusement and disdain in his voice. "He wishes you to accompany him on his travels."

"Travels?" Azula raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "He isn't staying?"

"He wishes to leave for the colonies soon, provided you go with him. He believes it will be good for you to see what you'll be ruling one day." Father scoffed. "I've agreed to allow it only if you choose to go."

Azula smiled. "Well, this must be a first for Uncle. His ideas aren't usually so sensible." She tilted her head. "Of course, _I'll_ only go if Mai or Ty Lee can accompany _me_. It wouldn't do to be alone, I'd be bored out of my mind." 

Father's expression remained blank, but the flames before the throne dimmed slightly. "Indeed," he said flatly. 

Azula swallowed, feeling unsure for the first time. 

Father expected her to say no. That was why he'd set the condition; so Uncle wouldn't be able to take her with him. Probably worried she'd turn out like Zuzu and end up staging a coup.

...But he'd given her the _option_ to say yes, and if he was so dead-set on her not going, he really should have just told Uncle _no._

Father seemed to realize as much. He sighed. 

"I will notify Iroh of your decision," he said, sounding rather miffed. "You may be dismissed." 

Azula stood, bowing, and left quickly. 

_Oh, how I'd hate to be Uncle when Father finds him._

~

Mai stood in the Palace courtyard, waiting for Azula. By her side, Ty Lee fidgeted constantly, shifting from foot to foot, popping knuckles, chewing on her lip — habits Mai had had drilled out of her at a young age. A _lady_ must have manners; A _child_ must be seen and not heard; A _future bride of the Crown Prince_ — yes, Grandmother had actually said that once, and Mother had barely concealed a giggle, _ugh_ — must not fidget.

Mai sighed, taking out a knife and twirling it. That was one habit Mother couldn't deny her; her parents hadn't exactly been _happy_ about her interest in shuriken, but they begrudgingly allowed it. Her father being as politically important as he was, and her being a non-bender, it was important she should be able to defend herself from potential assassins. 

The Princess taking interest in Mai because of the skill was just a bonus. To her parents, of course — Mai went along because it was less tiresome than trying to brush off Azula's efforts at what she called 'friendship.' 

Now, Mai was starting to get tired of _this._ She could have sworn Azula liked making them wait. She could just send her news in a letter, but _no,_ she had to be _dramatic_ and tell them in person. 

_Runs in the family, I guess._ Mai tossed her knife up, catching it by the very tip of the blade. 

~

Ty Lee could hardly stand waiting like this. She loved Azula, really, but did she have to make them wait out here every time? Ty Lee's feet ached on the hard stone of the courtyard, and she could see Mai sending dirty looks her way, but she could not stand still like this. 

_Finally_ Azula came out, just like she always did, a smile on her face like she'd just been crowned Supreme Ruler of Everything. She smiled like that a lot. Her aura, Ty Lee noticed, seemed much brighter than usual. 

"Excellent news, girls. Uncle's offered to take me with him on his travels."

Mai looked up from her knife, one eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly. "What does that have to do with us?" she asked, in her usual gloomy tone. 

Azula rolled her eyes in a very _Azula_ way. "Well, I can't very well go _alone._ It'd be dreadfully boring with just Uncle around."

Ty Lee shared a glance with Mai. She wasn't sure she liked where this was going. 

"Oh, come on," Azula said, noticing. "You can't possibly turn this down! It's not as if you'll get many golden opportunities to travel like this. Even you, Mai," she added. "You were just saying the other day how you wished you could get out of the house more often." 

Mai's expression did something funny for a moment before smoothing out again. "I was." 

"And Ty Lee, you've been dying to take a vacation for _ages,_ haven't you?" 

Ty Lee had said that, but days or weeks on a ship going around the Earth Kingdom wasn't what she'd had in mind. 

But if she said no, Azula was never going to let her forget it. 

Swallowing, she nodded. "I'll go with you." 

Azula smiled, looking at Mai. "And you?"

"I guess," Mai sighed, tucking her knife away in her sleeve. "It'll be less boring than waiting for you to come back." 

"Perfect." Azula grinned, clapping her hands together. "We leave at the end of the week."

She turned and walked away, her aura giving a satisfied glow. 


	28. 28; 'there's the pot calling the kettle black, Azula.'

Jet awoke before the sun was up, and spent a solid ten minutes trying to get back to sleep before he gave it up as a lost cause.

He dragged himself out of bed, and pulled a loose shirt over his head. Normally he wouldn't bother, but the cold air coming through his window felt like ice against his still-healing burns, and a little irritation from the fabric sounded more appealing than freezing to death. 

The kitchen was a lot warmer, and if he put on some tea he'd have an excuse to sit close to the stove, so he made his way over there. 

Unfortunately, it seemed he'd have to share the space.

Zuko sat on the floor with his back against the wall, the catopus curled up on his lap. With the hand that wasn't petting her, he held a teacup that was no longer giving off any steam. _How long has he been up?_ Jet wondered. A long time, judging by the bloodshot look of his eyes. 

The firebender mumbled a greeting as Jet walked over to get his own tea. The fire was still burning, spitting sparks erratically, so he didn't bother trying to mess with it, just heated up the water as needed. 

"Sleep well?" Jet asked as he sat down. Zuko shook his head, burying his hand deeper in the catopus's fluffy fur and looking exceptionally broody. "What's got you up so early?" 

Zuko shrugged one shoulder, taking a sip of his gone-cold tea. "Just stuff. I don't wanna talk about it." 

Jet nodded. Normally he might press on and try to find out more, but he figured that might be kind of a dick move after Zuko had just saved his life less than a whole week ago. 

Granted, he had also saved _Zuko's_ life, so they were kind of even, but still. He wasn't gonna push it. 

Evidently, he didn't need to. 

"My mom disappeared. Around three years ago." Zuko set down his cup, hugging the catopus closer. She gave a satisfied _purr,_ bumping her forehead against his chin. "I guess I had a dream about her or something. It woke me up."

Jet winced. This wasn't what he'd expected, but he'd gotten himself into it now.

"Disappeared?" 

Zuko shrugged wearily. "Don't know what happened to her. She might be dead. Zhao said she was a traitor, but I don't know what..." He trailed off. "A lot of stuff happened around that time, and I think she ended up in the middle of it." 

Well, that was the vaguest shit Jet had ever heard. "I see," he said, all while wondering what kind of _stuff_ had to happen for the Firelord's _wife_ to get _'_ disappeared _'._

 _Well_. Jet glanced at Zuko, the scar covering half his face. _If that's the Firelord's punishment for speaking out of turn, then it probably wouldn't take much more than that._

Jet felt a surge of anger toward the Firelord, just a little stronger than the normal constantly running current of said anger. 

Zuko looked down at the floor. "Why're you up so early?" he asked, an attempt to change the subject that Jet read loud and clear. 

Jet shrugged, leaning back against the wall nonchalantly. "No idea. Just couldn't get back to sleep."

Zuko nodded slightly, not looking like he was really listening. Jet sighed, leaning against the wall. It was a lot warmer here than his room, and he found himself nodding off quickly.

~

Jin found her boys asleep on the kitchen floor when she got up, both of them curled up like baby badgermoles in the space between the table and the stove. 

She shook her head, picking up the half-empty cups of tea that had somehow escaped being knocked over. Zuko stirred slightly at the sound, and she winced, being more careful as she set the cups on the table.

~

The first day of Azula's voyage had been uneventful so far — at the risk of sounding like Mai, _boring. (_ Mai had spent half of it being sick over the side of the boat, and even _that_ was starting to feel exciting after a while.) 

The ship Father provided was state-of-the-art, a royal sloop with all the perks. Nothing like the scrap heap Zuko had been generously gifted (on _her_ request, yet did she ever hear a single thank-you? Honestly, Father had dodged a bullet, banishing Zuko and his awful manners.)

Well, almost nothing like it; Uncle regrettably insisted on hiring some of his old crew, and they kept giving Azula odd looks. She would have liked to blast some lightning at them, but she'd promised Uncle she'd be on her _best behavior,_ and she planned to stick to that — at least for a couple days. 

"I can't believe we're actually going to see the Earth Kingdom!" Ty Lee exclaimed, walking on her hands down the railing. Azula rolled her eyes. _Maybe she'll fall over; that'd give us something to look at._

"What's it like in the colonies, Mai?" Ty Lee blabbered on, executing a smooth flip and landing on her feet beside the recently-done-being-seasick noble. Mai sighed, as she so often did these days. 

"Boring," she muttered, covering her eyes with the hand not clutching the rail for dear life. "Leave me alone."

"Is it true that earthbenders will crush firebenders' hands if they find them?" Ty Lee asked. 

"If I say yes will you leave me alone?" Mai peeked out from under her hand, raising an eyebrow. 

"Oh, Mai! You're just the only one of us who _knows_ anything about the colonies," Ty Lee simpered. "I want to know what to expect, that's all!"

Azula decided it was time to intervene before Mai decided to pull a knife on the acrobat. "Honestly, Ty Lee," she said, strolling over. "Can't you curb your questions? We won't even reach the tip of the Earth Kingdom for several _days."_

Ty Lee had the decency to look contrite. "Sorry, Princess Azula." 

Azula nodded. "You should be." 

Mai dragged herself to her feet, straightening her rumpled clothes; her face was, somehow, even paler than usual, and one of her ox-horns had come undone. 

"I'm going to have a bath," she announced. "Then I shall lie facedown on my bed and attempt to decompose without dying. Wake me for dinner." 

She walked off into the cabin, leaving Ty Lee looking bewildered. "Did she just use the word _'shall'?_ " 

Azula rolled her eyes. Her friends could be so dramatic sometimes! 

"Ty Lee! We're going belowdecks," Azula commanded. Ty Lee tilted her head, looking for all the world like a lost puppy. 

"Why? The sunlight up here feels so refreshing!" She spread her arms, the sheer sleeves of her top fluttering in the wind. "I can feel my aura getting pinker by the second!"

Azula restrained herself from another eye-roll. She was trying to cut down on those, they gave her such headaches by the end of the day. She looked down at her nails instead. _Too dull; c_ _ould use a filing._ "Auras aside, I'd rather like to know what we're eating tonight. I don't trust that cook."

She shot a glare toward the door to the belowdecks areas; Uncle had brought along not one, but _two_ cooks with him, claiming they were ' _the best he'd found in the four nations.'_ It sounded like a load of lion-lizard crap to Azula, and she didn't fancy being poisoned in some bizarre bid by Uncle for the throne. 

She strode off, Ty Lee cartwheeling and flipping ahead of her, pausing briefly to hold the door open before sliding down the stair rail. 

Azula sighed (dear spirits, she really _was_ turning into Mai) and followed, shaking her head at her friend's antics. This was going to be a _long_ voyage. 


	29. 29; 'Mai does not achieve decomposition'

Iroh sat in his cabin, pondering the blank sheet of paper in front of him. His nephew's letter sat finished, set to the side to dry. His letter to Chief Hakoda was nonexistent, a problem he was trying to remedy. 

Sighing, he picked up the brush. 

_Esteemed Chief Hakoda,_ he wrote. _My ship has just departed the Fire Nation; we are bound for the Earth Kingdom._

~

Uncle had been shut up in his cabin _all evening._ Frankly Azula was starting to worry he might have keeled over while meditating, with how quiet everything was. 

Not that it mattered right now. She had other business to attend to.

She sighed, pacing Ty Lee's side of the quarters she was sharing with Mai. Across the room, the latter was firmly sticking to her resolution to lay facedown upon the bed; her hair wasn't even up, just lying in a limp heap around her.

" _Mai,"_ Ty Lee sighed, her tone bordering on exasperation. "You said to wake you up for dinner." 

"I didn't say I was going to _get_ up," Mai said, head sandwiched between two pillows. It had a muffling effect on her already quiet voice, making it even quieter. _Mai's just full of surprises today,_ Azula mused. "What part of 'attempting to decompose' did you not understand? Just bring me a tray and I'll eat later," Mai said.

"Oh, don't be silly," Ty Lee said. "It's not good for you to lie in bed all day! The walk to the dining hall will do you good." 

Mai let out a sigh worthy of an Ember Island heroine. "Fine."

Ty Lee clapped her hands, smiling. "Yay!" Grabbing Mai's hand, she pulled. "Come on, before all the good food is gone!"

In a blur of pink and red, she dragged Mai from the room before Azula could make her own exit, and the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation was forced to walk _behind_ her two friends to the dining hall. 

"Wait up!" she ordered, jogging to catch up with the others. "Honestly, of all the inconsiderate things!" 

~

_In. Hold. Out. Hold. Feel your inner fire reaching for the sun. Feel the sun reaching for your fire. Breathe slowl—_

"Zuko?"

Zuko shot to his feet, instinctively taking a fighting stance; his hand stopped barely an inch away from Jin's face. She blinked, cross-eyed, before slowly pushing his hand aside. 

"I'm heading to town," she said. "Jet's coming with me, do you want to go?" 

Zuko's face heated with embarrassment. "Oh." He relaxed his stance, brushing dirt and leaves off his clothes from sitting on the ground. "Sure." 

He dodged Jin's hand as she tried to ruffle his hair, and followed her back into the house. 

~

The marketplace was less crowded than usual, a fact Jet was grateful for, as it meant he wasn't going to bump shoulders with anyone and irritate his burns. He'd bandaged them just in case, one could never be too careful and all that. 

Jin paused them all by a stand selling tea, picking up a jar with a white flower painted on it. "Ooh! We haven't had jasmine in a while, have we?" 

Zuko shook his head. "I think I maybe had some on my ship." 

"I haven't had it since the Air Temple," Jin said, before handing over several coins to the merchant and thanking her. Jet paused in looking at the other teas to turn to Jin and Zuko.

"Air Temple?" he asked. "When did you go to an Air Temple?"

They shared a look. "It's a long story," Zuko said, scratching the back of his neck. "Tell you when we get home." 

"Come on," Jin said. "We still need more of that burn medicine and food, and we'll need extra time if Jet tries flirting the prices down again." She smirked, and Jet's face heated. 

"It was one time," he protested. She was already walking off. 

~

"So," Jet said, during dinner. "Air Temple."

Zuko sighed. "Air Temple," he acknowledged, setting down his chopsticks. 

"When did that happen?" 

_Gosh, when **did** it happen? _Zuko frowned, looking down at the table. _It couldn't have been **that** long ago, I've only been away from home for six months — how has it been six months already?_

"About a month before you showed up," Jin answered helpfully. 

Jet gave a low whistle. "Damn. So what's the story?" 

Jin gave Zuko a Look, and he sighed again. Apparently, telling it was going to be _his_ job. 

"When Fath — um. The Fire Lord — banished me, he said I could only go home if I captured the Avatar." 

Jet cursed quietly. "The Avatar hasn't been seen in over a hundred years."

Zuko sighed. "I know. That's why someone had to look for him." 

"But you wouldn't have been able to go back!" Jet frowned. "Didn't you realize that?" 

Zuko looked down at the table. "No. I thought I'd be the one who found the Avatar, or...Father would change his mind."

"And he didn't." Jet frowned. Zuko sighed. 

"He's the Fire Lord. He doesn't have time to —"

"Bullshit." Jet was scowling now. "He sent you on a fool's errand to get you out of the way, after _hurting you —"_

"Whatever." Zuko scowled. "Do you want to hear the story or not?" 

Jet scoffed, picking up his chopsticks. "Fine. I'm listening." 

~

By the time Zuko finished talking, Jet was kind of speechless. 

Kind of.

"You actually _didn't know_ about what happened there?" he asked skeptically. Zuko shook his head, face and neck flushed.

"No." He ran a hand through his hair. "I really didn't." 

Jet shook his head. "That's just..."

"It's awful," Jin said. "It was awful, being there." 

Jet nodded in agreement, pushing the food around his bowl. Zuko stood up. 

"I need some air," he said, taking his bowl and cup as he went out the back door.

Jet sighed. 

"I'm gonna turn in early. Here," he pushed his bowl over to Jin. "you can finish this if you want." 

She hesitated. "You sure? I don't want to if you wanna save it..." 

"It's fine." He ruffled her hair in passing on his way to the stairs. "Night." 

"Goodnight." 


	30. 30; 'the gals have a shopping spree'

Ty Lee had enjoyed the time on the ship a lot more than she expected, but that didn't even _begin_ comparing to the excitement she felt seeing the first colony's port. She could barely contain it! It was a struggle not to bound ahead of Azula and try to see everything at once. 

"You girls go and enjoy yourselves," General Iroh said. "I have a few letters to send. Be back here before sunset!" 

Azula rolled her eyes as the General walked away, before turning to Ty Lee and Mai. "Well? You heard what he said; come on, let's _enjoy ourselves."_

The shops in this town were so different from the ones in Caldera; the clothes were designed differently, in so many more colors and types of fabric, and the food, while similar — this was a Fire Nation colony, and the nearest one — were just slightly more varied. There were a few foods listed on the menus that she didn't recognize, and was sure had to be Earth-Kingdom-inspired. 

"You should try these noodles, Mai," she encouraged, bounding back to her friends from one of the vendors with her bowl. Azula made a disgusted face. 

"You're really eating _that?"_ she asked, wrinkling her nose. "It's _street food._ Not even from a respectable restaurant — though I can't say I have high hopes for _those_ , either." She looked around, shaking her head. "I knew I was right to come here. When I'm Fire Lord, I'll be making a lot of changes. Perhaps I should bring it up with Father, and he can get started soon as possible." 

Ty Lee didn't know how to respond to that, so she just shrugged and kept eating her noodles. 

Then a sign caught her eye, and she swallowed down a mouthful to gasp. "Is that a _tattoo parlor?_ " 

Mai's and Azula's heads turned with hers. 

There were no such places in the Capital — in fact, she had heard it was rare to find them in _any_ part of the Fire Nation since the start of the war. Tattoos were considered to be for criminals and peasants too foolish to spend their money on things that _mattered,_ not to mention the dreadful association with the airbenders. 

In Ty Lee's opinion, it sounded a little beautiful, to care enough about something that you wanted it permanently engraved, not just on a piece of parchment that could be burned or lost, but on your body. _(And that would only get burned if you did something wrong —)_

Before she could stop herself, she'd run over, ogling the designs — here at the front of the shop, they _were_ printed on parchment — marveling at the care and attention to detail in each one. 

"You're not _seriously_ thinking of _getting_ one, are you?" Azula asked, walking up beside her. "You already look out of place enough. What will people think when they see you looking even _more_ like an Air Nation barbarian?" 

"Oh, I'm just looking!" Ty Lee said, to cover up the fact that she had, in fact, thought of what people would think, and she'd thought, _I bet none of my sisters would ever think of this!,_ and the idea had briefly appealed to her. Now that Azula said it, though, it sounded stupid. 

Mai came over, examining one of the designs. "This looks like it'd take hours to do. Who has time for that?" 

Ty Lee shrugged, running her fingers over a pretty rose design. A thought crossed her mind, and she giggled. 

"What is it?" Azula asked. 

"I was just thinking, wouldn't it be funny to get a rose tattooed on your hip?" 

Azula stared at her blankly. Ty Lee grinned. 

"Because then you'd have a _rose hip?"_ She looked at Mai to see if she got the joke, but her expression was blank as always. Defeated, Ty Lee sighed. "Never mind..." 

She picked up her bowl, finishing off the noodles. Azula was already striding off down the street, and Ty Lee picked up her pace to keep up. 

~

In all the times she'd traveled with her parents, Mai could never recall coming to a town like _this._ It was always stuffy apartments and wealthy citizens, never merchants and vendors selling wares in the streets. 

At least this wasn't as _boring._ There was so much more to see here even than in the vast Caldera City Marketplace, which she rarely visited anyway, only to get clothes adjusted to fit as she grew; in all the years she'd lived in the city (eleven-and-a-half out of thirteen, if you subtracted all the traveling) she'd only seen one shoe shop, and occasionally (if she was good) she was allowed to pick out a new hair ribbon or (as she got older) a new knife. 

She passed a shop selling intricate jewelry, like Grandmother liked to wear (though doubtless made of cheaper material); a store full of handmade vases and pots, in all colors of the rainbow (those were tacky, and it was a great struggle resisting the temptation to put a stiletto through every one of them); even one stand, boasting the **"Best collection of theater memorabilia this side of the Mo Ce Sea,"** which seemed like a pretty confident statement considering just how much land there _was_ this side of the Mo Ce Sea.

Mai couldn't help thinking of Zuko as she passed that one; especially when she saw the blue mask. She couldn't remember what play it was from — _Romance Among the Dragonflies?_ Or maybe that was some other play — but she remembered ten-year-old Zuko practicing in the courtyard with his dao blades, the mask tied to a belt as he mercilessly attacked the training dummy, all while reciting what was _clearly_ a memorized monologue from some play. 

The second-hand embarrassment from witnessing the scene had been strong enough that she had to go sit down for a bit. And this was almost a whole year _before_ the Fountain Incident. 

She passed by the stand quickly, hoping she wasn't blushing at the memory. 

Another shop that caught her attention was a large weapons boutique on a corner. A peek inside showed her a rack of large knives, several metal whips, and — _be still, my heart —_ a case of finely pointed darts, with wrist and ankle launchers. 

Oh, Agni, did she _want_ those. 

~

 _Why on earth would Uncle think any of this could be **enjoyable?**_ Azula thought, scowling at a garish display of pottery. _I mean, what kind of person would even **buy** something like that? _

_Ty Lee, probably._ She rolled her eyes, moving on to find something more _practical_ to look at. Something that wouldn't make her head hurt. 

She passed a bookstore, a weaponsmith (was that _Mai_ inside, chatting away with the shopkeeper? How odd), and a tea shop (and that was definitely Uncle inside, why that man adored tea so much she would never understand), and _still_ had found nothing to interest her. 

_Oh, well._ It was getting towards evening anyway, so she should probably collect her friends and head back. She hadn't seen Ty Lee in a while, and she hoped the poor girl hadn't done something foolish in her absence — 

"Azula! Look what I found! Isn't it so pretty?" 

Azula turned around and found herself face-to-ugly-face with a bright pink-and-orange swirled vase. Ty Lee grinned ear-to-ear, presenting the vase like it was a trophy she'd won, and not a horrible plague upon humanity she'd wasted her money on. 

"Dear Agni, Ty Lee," she said, pushing the — the _thing_ away from her. "You bought _that?"_

Ty Lee huffed, looking wounded. "I didn't _buy_ it! The boy at the shop _gave_ it to me! And I think it's pretty!" 

"Well, keep it out of my sight." Azula swore she could still see the colors imprinted on her eyes. "Where's Mai? 

At that moment there was a loud, clanging _crash_ from inside the weapons shop, followed by several unladylike swears that didn't _sound_ like they were coming from Mai, unless Mai's voice had somehow dropped five octaves since that morning; the next moment, Mai came running out of the shop, hurriedly tossing a handful of coins over her shoulder. 

_Well, that answers my question._


	31. 31; 'new motto: "it sounded fun at the time!"'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW for underage drinking later in the chapter

By early winter, the routes were planned, ships were restocked, and the crew of the _Akhlut_ were preparing to head back west. 

"I'm gonna miss this place a little," Jin said, lying on the kitchen floor in front of the stove. "It's cozy. Feels kind of like home." 

Zuko hummed quietly in consideration from his seat on the counter. "It feels more like a vacation to me. Only with more mortal danger." 

"I guess so."

Across the table, Jet sighed, dragging his face out of Yuki's soft winter coat. "You guys wanna do something?"

"Like what?" Jin asked. 

"I dunno, like...spar, or something." Jet shrugged, scratching at the base of Yuki's neck. The goose-goat peeped agreeably, nuzzling his face. "I'm bored." 

"Oh!" Jin jumped up, startling Zuko, and he almost fell off the counter. "I just remembered something!"

She raced out of the room, coming back covered in snow, and with a large and dust-covered bottle. 

"Oh no," Zuko muttered. Jet leaned forward, clearly intrigued. 

"Where'd you find that?" 

"The shed." Jin gestured over her shoulder. "There's a whole cabinet full of this stuff, hasn't been touched in years."

"So you decided to steal some of it," Zuko observed. " _This_ can only have a good outcome." 

"I know, right!" Jin smiled, completely missing his sarcasm. 

"Loosen up, Zuko," Jet said, leaning forward and examining the bottle. "You're just jealous you didn't think of it first." 

Zuko's face heated. "Am not," he lied. 

"Sure." Jet clicked his tongue. "I probably shouldn't be condoning this, but what the heck. Pass me a cup."

~

Halfway across the world, Azula and her companions were stuck inside. 

'Wh-whose id-dea was this?" Ty Lee asked, huddled by the fireplace in a pile of blankets. "It's so c-c-cold! I thought it only got so cold at the p-poles!" 

"You wouldn't be so cold if you hadn't let those kids bury you in snow," Mai pointed out, dragging her brush through a stubborn tangle in her hair. 

"They w-were so polite!" Ty Lee protested, burrowing deeper in her blanket heap. "And it s-sounded fun at the time!" 

Mai resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and set her brush down. "Well, stop complaining so much. You're giving me a headache." 

"You don't have to be so mean," the blanket heap whined. Mai sighed. 

"You don't have to be so annoying," she muttered, quietly enough Ty Lee wouldn't hear. 

The door flew open with a rush of cold air, and Azula strutted in, stomping and shaking snow off her boots and coat. 

"Uncle says we'll be delayed. There's ice in the pipes on the ship." The edge in her voice made it perfectly clear it was her Uncle she was annoyed with, and not the weather. Mai almost rolled her eyes again. _So entitled. It isn't his fault this place has the worst weather ever._

"This weather is ridiculous," Azula continued, breathing out a tongue of flame. The snow on her clothes melted off into steam, though the red tint to her face didn't fade. "And the ice! I could have broken my neck on those stairs out there. When _I'm_ Fire Lord, I'll have firebenders come out here to keep the streets clear." 

"Don't we need firebenders for the military?" Mai asked. Azula laughed. 

"Don't be silly. The war will be over by then." She sank onto the couch, kicking her feet on the armrest. "It's only three more years until Sozin's Comet comes back around. We'll be unstoppable with its power!"

Mai felt her face twitching into a frown at Azula's overconfidence. She quickly smoothed her expression. 

"Ba Sing Se wasn't built in a day," she said, repeating the phrase she'd heard so many times from her handmaidens as a child (before she'd mastered patience). 

"No," Azula agreed, picking at the gold paint on her nails. "But I bet we could burn it in one." 

Mai shrugged, picking up the scroll she'd been reading earlier. It was one she'd picked up in the _last_ town they'd been to, before a freak snowstorm had forced them to make port sooner than they'd expected, and then snowed them in. 

"Ugh, you're reading that thing again?" Azula's voice cut through her concentration on the words. "Those Earth Kingdom tales are so generic." 

Mai raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't know," she said, keeping a cool tone. "I haven't read many of them." 

Azula's eye-roll was almost audible, but she shut up after that, and Mai was able to return to her reading. It had just gotten to a rather exciting part where the main heroine got captured by pirates. 

In reading Lady Guiying's predicament, Mai's thoughts turned to Zuko, as they did annoyingly often lately — General Iroh liked to tell stories, and many of them involved his nephew in one way or another. 

_I wonder if he's even alive,_ she thought, her eyes skimming the page. Azula had explained, in essence, what had happened to Zuko, but left out any _actual_ details. 

He hadn't replied to any of their letters, unless Azula was holding out on her. And then the whole _treason_ fiasco happened, and she'd still held out a little hope it was all a misunderstanding. Zhao (may the flame lead him to rest) was an irresponsible, incompetent creep, and had managed to climb the ranks purely by sucking up to the Fire Lord. 

Then the news arrived of Zuko's arrest, alongside a Water Tribe soldier and an escaped Earth Kingdom convict. "Sounds like they collected the whole set," Azula said while gleefully informing them of her brother's apparent fate. 

And yes, the three prisoners had escaped (sinking the ship in the progress — she had to wonder whose plan that had been. It was, to use a phrase she'd heard from the servants, _a pretty ballsy move_ ). But a lot could happen in the time it would take for a lifeboat to reach land. 

"Why so glum, Mai?" Azula asked. "Realized your time would be better spent peeling your own nails off than reading that garbage?" 

Mai swallowed, carefully rearranging her expression and setting the scroll aside. 

"Yeah," she said. "Stupid book." 

~

"Jet," Zuko said, far more patiently than he felt Jet deserved, "could you please move?" 

Jet grumbled something, and it felt like he leaned _harder_ on Zuko's shoulder. "Hmm-mh." 

"Jin, could you come get him off of me?" Zuko asked, looking desperately to Jin. "Please?"

Jin huffed, taking another drink of her wine instead of doing anything to help. "You guys look so sweet," she said, smiling. "I'm happy you're getting along." 

Jet snorted. "No, no, I still hate him," he slurred, sitting up and slinging a scrawny arm around Zuko's shoulders. "So much. Worst enemy right here." He tousled Zuko's hair roughly, then froze; Zuko froze too, a little worried.

"Dude," Jet said, and Zuko almost laughed, because Jet had absolutely been hanging out with Toklo too much (and also, Zuko was pretty sure he was drunk, since that wasn't even that _funny)._ "Why's your hair so soft?"

"Stop touching my hair, you weirdo!" Zuko shoved Jet's hand away before he could start rubbing it or, Agni forbid, _playing_ with it. Jet laughed, headbutting Zuko's shoulder. 

"Mhm." He closed his eyes, sighing. "I miss bein' able to do stuff like this. Me 'n Longshot used to hang out once the young kids were asleep. Sometimes we'd share around whatever bottles we'd managed to steal from the troops that came through." 

Zuko had no idea who or what Longshot was, or 'the other kids'. He really had no idea who Jet's family were. He had a sudden memory of Lu Ten, letting him (and occasionally Azula) have sips of wine during the few parties or festivals held at the Palace.

"Longshot?" Jin asked, coming over to sit next to Zuko. Jet smiled. 

"One of the kids who lived with me. We had a whole little village to ourselves." 

The smile turned quickly into a frown. Jet pulled away from Zuko, sighing loudly. "I'm goin' to bed," he said, leaning across Zuko to hug Jin. "G'night."

"Night," Zuko said, wondering what soured Jet's mood so quickly. "Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too." 

Jin left to go to bed a little while after that, and Zuko was left by himself in the kitchen. Yuki's quiet chirping in her sleep was the only sound. 

He leaned his head against the wall. He really ought to get to his room, but he did not feel like walking. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. _Not gonna fall asleep. Just resting my eyes._

He thought, like a liar, right before falling asleep. 


	32. 32; 'and thus the chaos bringers return'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CA: underage drinking from previous chapter alluded to

"Zuko?" Toklo called, stepping over the snoozing goose-monster to enter the oddly quiet house. "Jin? Is anyone here?" 

No reply, which was weird, since Zuko was the most morning-ish morning person he knew, and Jin could usually be counted on to be up before noon, at least. And it was nearly an hour past that, now. 

_Maybe they're at the market or something,_ he thought — he didn't see them, but maybe they'd been on the other end and he'd just missed them. 

After debating for a second whether it'd be better to go back and look for them or wait here, he sat down, picking up a book from the shelf. 

Ten minutes later, there was a loud _crash!_ from the kitchen, followed by a loud, drawn-out groan, and sounds of a struggle.

Toklo was on his feet in an instant, wrestling his knife out of its sheath just in case. The kitchen door, he now noticed, was slightly ajar, and _that_ certainly raised some alarms. 

He pushed the door all the way open, and was met with...Zuko. 

Toklo stared. His friend stared back, eyes bloodshot and face bright red, every muscle still, with the half-embarrassed, half-distressed look of a hawkhare with its wing caught in a snare. 

It probably didn't help that the loose tunic he was wearing had caught on a drawer handle, while also somehow wrapped around his wrist. Several things that looked like they had previously belonged on the counter were scattered on the floor around him. 

"Need some help?" Toklo asked, knife already back in its scabbard, and feet already carrying him across the kitchen. Zuko flushed a deeper red. 

"What are you doing here?" he mumbled, leaning away as Toklo worked on getting the snagged (sleeve? Hem? He honestly had no clue what part of the tunic this was) off the drawer knob. 

"Well, I was supposed to be helping you guys move back onto the ship, so —" He paused, his eye catching on the large, half-empty bottle on the table. _Ohhhhkay, that explains a lot._

"You kids. Leave you alone for a couple days —"

Zuko went pale. "Don't tell Chief Hakoda." 

"I won't, relax. I think this is already enough trouble for you." Toklo managed to get Zuko's tunic free, and his friend muttered something unintelligible. Toklo chose to believe it was a thank-you. "You feeling okay after your night of revelry?" Ah, and there was a fun word he didn't get to use often. 

"Stop talking so loud," Zuko grumbled, apparently okay with being hostile now that his freedom didn't depend on Toklo. "My head hurts." 

"Alright. Come on, we'll get you some water, and find you something to eat." Toklo offered his hand, and Zuko took it, pulling himself up to his feet unsteadily. 

After he'd settled Zuko at the table with a bowl of rice and fruit and some water, he went off to wake his other two ~~banes of his existence~~ friends.

Jin seemed fine — apparently she'd managed to get through her hangover already last night. She did gratefully accept a glass of water, before shoving him out of the room so she could get changed. 

Now he just had to to deal with Jet. 

~

Jet was never — _never —_ drinking again. Ever. It was decidedly not worth it. The headache, the nausea, the strain it took not to grind his teeth, the battle between freezing cold and burning up that stripping off or piling on covers didn't help. The embarrassing knowledge that he'd gotten all close with Zuko like he was one of his kids or something. 

This whole thing was just _blegh,_ and Jet wanted nothing to do with it. 

The door opened with a creak loud enough to wake the dead — or Jet — and he dragged his head out of his pile of pillows to glare at the intruder. 

Toklo seemed unfazed. "You feeling alright?"

_Shit, what's he doing here?_

Jet managed to sit up, despite his limbs feeling like jelly. "Why? What's wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong, it's fine. I'm just checking on you." Toklo came over, stooping slightly to lay his hand on Jet's forehead. "You're burning up."

 _No kidding._ Jet leaned away from the (admittedly, very cool and comfortable against his overheated skin) hand, and dragged his (still jelly-ish) feet off the bed.

"What're you doing here?" he asked, blinking against the _ow very bright_ sunlight coming in the window. "Does Hakoda need help with something?" 

"You guys were supposed to move back to the ship today," Toklo answered. "It can wait until you're feeling better." 

Jet nodded, covering his eyes to block the light. "Ow — is that stupid thing brighter than usual?" 

"It's all the snow," Toklo replied. "Reflects the light. It can give you a headache even if you're not hungover." 

"Snow?" Jet groaned, laying back down. "Yeah, screw this, I'm goin' to sleep." 

"Nuh-uh." Toklo poked him in the side with his cold, cold fingers of death. "You'll feel better once you get some food and water."

Jet sighed. Truth be told, he _did_ feel hungry. And thirsty. "Mkay," he muttered, sitting back up. The sudden movement sent a jolt of pain behind his eyes, and little colorful dots clouded his vision for a second. 

"Ugh." 

"Yeah. Not worth it, huh?" Toklo patted Jet's shoulder, and was he intentionally doing this to freeze Jet with his freezing hands? _Rude_. "Maybe you'll learn from this."

Jet snorted. "No kidding." 

~

Hakoda smiled as he pushed in the last tack holding his map to the wall. With that, everything was completely prepared. 

Almost everything. Shouldn't Toklo be back with the kids already? Had something happened?

A moment later, he heard high-pitched laughter and shouting that could only come from Jet and Jin. Sighing in relief, he ascended the stairs to the deck. 

Jet and Jin quickly calmed down when they spotted him, though Jet had a suspicious amount of snow clinging to the back of his neck and head, and it wasn't hard to guess what the fight had been about. Hakoda was reminded of the many times he'd walked into the tent to find Sokka and Katara suspiciously quiet, usually sneaking glares at each other when they thought he wasn't looking. 

"Chief Hakoda!" Zuko called in greeting, Sushi the catopus wound around his neck like a furry scarf and his goose-goat perched atop the sea chest in his arms. His face was a brilliant pink from the cold air, and slightly more steam came off his breath than the others'. 

"Cold enough for you kids?" Hakoda asked, ruffling Zuko's hair when he reached him; Zuko rolled his eyes, but didn't back away, which was new. "You have trouble getting to the house, Toklo? I thought the ice didn't look too bad." 

The young warrior shook his head. "Nah, had to wake 'em up, they'd all slept in. Even Zuko, if you can believe it!" 

Hakoda nodded. "Well, I'm glad you've all made it." He ruffled Jet's hair, and looked over all three kids. "You kids can go and put your things away, same place as before. Jin, you're sure you want to come? If you'd rather stay and wait for your aunt and uncle to write, you can." 

She shook her head, a light dusting of snow falling off her hair. "I don't think these two knuckleheads could survive without me," she said, her hand taking the place of Hakoda's in Jet's hair, her other arm dragging Zuko in by the waist. Both boys rolled their eyes, begrudgingly allowing the affection. 

"Come on," Jet said, nudging her shoulder. "He said to go put our stuff away. And it's freezing out here."

"Wouldn't be so cold if you'd put a shirt on," Zuko said, raising his eyebrow and casting a rather disparaging look at the sleeveless tunic Jet wore; Hakoda had to admit, he had a point. 

"Just come on," Jet grumbled, nodding to Hakoda as he passed by. Jin followed, pulling Zuko along behind her. 

"Good to have you back!" Hakoda called over his shoulder, smiling. He turned to Toklo. "Good job getting them back here."

"Thanks, Chief." Toklo grinned. "Okay if I go? I wanna get my hammock up before Panuk takes my spot." 

Hakoda nodded. "When you're done, you can go ahead and start helping get us ready to sail." 

Toklo nodded, walking off after the other kids. Hakoda walked to the edge of the ship, watching as other ships raised their sails, headed for other parts of the world. Soon their own ship would be off, headed back west.

Hopefully, this journey would be easier than the last. 

_Yeah, right._ If Zuko's plan worked out, they'd be meeting the Dragon of the West again, and meeting the sister who, if his word was to be believed, hadn't been bluffing when she threatened to burn the ship. 

He sighed, heading back to help ready the sails. 


	33. 33; 'oops.'

The pipes had finally been thawed out, after _days,_ and they were on the move again, bound for the next dumpy colony town on Uncle's itinerary. Azula had been using the time to hone her firebending skills, practicing with Mai as a sparring opponent. 

Not that it was much of a challenge. 

"Honestly, Mai," Azula said in exasperation, easily deflecting a knife off her gauntlet and sending a blast of fire toward the other girl. "Are you even _trying?"_

Mai ducked under the flames, sighing. "We can't all produce our own little bubble of heat," she grumbled, getting back to her feet and rubbing her hands together.

 _That explains your frigid personality,_ Azula wanted to say, but she didn't think she could handle Ty Lee's scolding without dishing out a well-deserved strangling. 

"Maybe if you wore gloves that covered your whole hands," she said instead. "Those things you wear are useless." 

Mai's expression didn't change, but she seemed to bristle indignantly. "I need to have some grip," she said coolly. "Otherwise I'd be dropping my knives."

Azula rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for this inane small-talk. "Whatever. Throw the next one!"

The projectile came flying quickly towards her; as she moved to block it and return fire, her foot hit a patch of ice. She slid, and in her panic, threw out her hands for balance. 

Fire flew from her hand — more than she meant, and it was heading right toward Mai.

~

Ty Lee was practicing her headstands when she heard a loud cry of alarm. It took her too long to realize it had come from Mai — a plume of fire shot toward her from Azula, and with no room to duck under it or around it, Mai backed up frantically. 

Her back hit the railing; her foot hit ice. Mai toppled backward over the side of the ship. 

Ty Lee gasped. Halfway across the deck, Princess Azula looked frozen in shock for a moment, but quickly recovered, scowling. Ty Lee hurried over to the side of the ship, searching for a sign of Mai. 

A moment later her hand broke the surface, followed by her head. Mai flailed, coughing, as she tried to stay afloat. 

"HELP!" she yelled. It sounded unnatural, so different from her usually quiet, raspy voice. Ty Lee looked to Azula, shocked that she was just standing there. Several sailors stood around, looking like they wanted to help but not daring to move without Azula's order. 

"Aren't you gonna help?" Ty Lee asked. 

The Princess scoffed. "She'll be fine." 

"HELP!" Mai repeated, spluttering on a mouthful of seawater. "I CAN'T SWIM!"

Azula sighed heavily, mouthing, _'fine.'_ She turned to one of the sailors, snapping her fingers. "You, Haruto —"

"Teruko," another sailor corrected, earning an eye-roll from the Princess.

"Whatever." Azula pointed toward the ocean. "Dive in and get her." 

The woman cast a sour look in Azula's direction, stripping off her armor and diving over the side. Another sailor hurried to toss the end of a rope over the edge. Ty Lee tapped her fingers nervously on the rail, her anxiety building as she watched the woman pull Mai toward the rope. 

Finally, the other sailors pulled them up; Mai collapsed on the deck, coughing and shivering. Ty Lee raced to her side. 

"Mai! Are you alright?" 

Mai nodded slightly, casting an indecipherable look at Azula as she dragged wet hair out of her face. Her aura looked the darkest Ty Lee had ever seen it — instead of its usual greyish-off-white, it was more of a dark, stormy, brownish-grey. Azula's aura was normal; she seemed unbothered by all the excitement — if anything, a little bored. Noticing Ty Lee looking, she huffed, turning around to walk swiftly away.

Ty Lee frowned and looked back at Mai, shocked to find her lips bluish and her hands shaking as she wrung water out of her disheveled hair. 

"Hey," a young sailor said, coming over and helping Mai to her feet. "You oughta go see the doctor, make sure you don't have hyperthermia." 

"It's hyp- _o-_ thermia," his companion corrected. "Hyperthermia is like a fever." 

"Shut up, Jingyi." 

Ty Lee followed behind as the sailor escorted Mai to the medical bay, listening as he told Mai about the time his little sister had gone overboard on their dad's fishing boat when he was a kid. Mai seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open, and her aura had gone all grey again. At least she wasn't all angry anymore. 

~

Azula slammed shut the door to her quarters, her face hot with shame. How could she lose control of her bending like that? All because of the stupid ice! 

She hoped Mai was alright — to lose half her team and be left with only Ty Lee for company would be dreadful. At least Mai's sense of humor wasn't so _giggly,_ and she didn't blabber on about auras and such. 

_What on earth did Ty Lee expect me to do? How was I to know Mai couldn't swim? What kind of person doesn't know how to swim?_

She scowled, shucking off her armor before lying down on her bed. The lack of sun outside made her tired, and there was time for a nap before dinner. Perhaps by the time she woke up, everyone would have forgotten all about the incident. 


	34. 34; 'board games? more like bored games.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A series of posts on Muffin's tumblr reminded me that Zuko still has a loose tooth hangin' out in there from the incident with Heng, which somehow managed to slip my mind.

Zuko ducked under a blow from Jet's swords, grinning. "Too slow."

Jet huffed, swinging both blades again; Zuko brought his up to meet them. "No fair, you've had actual lessons and stuff," he said around a stalk of hay. 

"Well, you're pretty good for being self-taught," Zuko acknowledged with a shrug, before jumping back to avoid another swing. Jet grunted with exertion, raising an eyebrow. 

"I wasn't _self-taught."_ He reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes, using his free hand to block Zuko's double-handed swing. He caught the swords with his hook and pulled, nearly dragging Zuko off balance. 

"Who taught you, then?" Zuko asked, wrenching his blades back. Jet shrugged. 

"Picked it up watching other people fight." He swiped low, aiming for Zuko's legs; Zuko leapt back, then regretted it, realizing he was backed up against a crate.

"That sounds a lot like self-taught to me," he said skeptically, while trying to find a way out. He deflected another blow, feinting to the left. Jet moved to block him in, and he ran around the other side. Jet growled.

"Well, you don't have to be condescending about it!" he said, whirling around; Zuko ducked the wide swing, straightening up to jam his swords into the bend of the hooks and tugging them towards him. Jet tugged them back, scowling, and Zuko's swords slipped free. 

"I wasn't being condescending," Zuko said, dodging another attack. Jet snorted, ducking Zuko's next swing; the next moment, his swords had hooked around Zuko's ankles, and he gave a sharp tug. Zuko yelped as his feet were pulled out from under him, and he landed hard on his back. 

"I win," Jet said smugly, straightening up and poking Zuko in the chest with his sword. "You've gotta do the dishes now." 

"We never agreed to that!" Zuko protested, shoving the weapon away and standing up. He shoved his own swords back in their scabbard, brushing feathers off his clothes. 

"Yeah we did. I asked you telepathically," Jet said, already walking away. "I heard you say yes."

Zuko groaned in annoyance. "That's not even a real thing! You can barely even hear your own thoughts! Not that you have many of those."

Jet rolled his eyes, sitting down and pulling Yuki onto his lap. "Your father's just a sore loser who can't stick to his telepathic agreements," he said to her, shaking his head as he stroked her feathers. "What a sad life."

Zuko scowled, sending a rude gesture in Jet's direction. Jet smiled sweetly, returning the gesture. 

"How about a rematch?" he suggested. "Loser gets wringing duty on laundry day."

Zuko drew his swords again. "You're on." 

~

"How on _earth_ did you manage this?" Akela groused, dabbing ointment onto Jet's split lip; he winced, flinching away. Across the room, Zuko glowered at Jet, holding a chunk of ice to a matching split lip, and the bleeding gums where Jet's sword hilt had managed to knock his eyetooth loose (or _looser,_ apparently); Jet held his own ice wrapped in a rag, gingerly pressing it against a bruised eye. 

"It was Zuko's fault," he said, at the same time as Zuko (falsely) said "It was Jet's fault." 

"Was it, now?" Akela said dryly, ruffling Jet's hair. "You two are disasters." 

"Zuko would _never_ do such a thing," Kustaa said, patting Zuko's shoulder. "Isn't that right, Nephew?" 

"I am _not_ your nephew," Zuko grumbled.

"I've been meaning to ask about that," Jet said, looking at Kustaa. "Why _do_ you call him that?" 

"Ask Jin," Zuko huffed, wiping his bloody fingers on his shirt and standing up. "It's her fault." 

He left, leaving Jet even more puzzled than before. Akela shook her head, standing up and pulling Jet to his feet. "Come on, you're crowding up the infirmary. Don't do anything stupid for the rest of the day." 

"I'll try not to act like Zuko," he promised. Zuko swung around the doorway, scowling. 

"I heard that," he snarled, puffing steam out of flared nostrils. Jet grimaced, more at the blood all over Zuko's teeth than out of fear. Before Zuko could do anything, Akela stepped quickly between him and Jet.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." She snapped her fingers, pointing out the door. "Take this outside. Don't play too rough, I _just_ fixed you up," she added, tousling Jet's hair roughly as he stepped around her. She pushed both of them out the door, and closed it firmly behind them. 

Zuko crossed his arms, scowling at Jet. Jet put on his best smile.

"Told you you were a sore loser." 

He didn't stick around for Zuko's response. 

~

Azula scowled at the bleak-looking town from the deck of her ship. The sad, run-down buildings made it look abandoned; but there were people walking in and out, so the place was clearly inhabited. But who had let it get in such a state? 

"Why doesn't somebody fix this place up?" she asked nobody in particular. Normally that 'nobody' would be Mai or Ty Lee, but they'd both been oddly distant since The Incident. Honestly, those two had to learn to _let it go_ sometimes. 

"Most of the funds coming to this colony go to the military," Uncle answered. "There is not much left over for the people of the town, so many of the citizens cannot afford repairs. Come, there's someone here I've agreed to meet."

He ambled down the gangplank. Azula followed; she could hear Mai and Ty Lee tagging along behind, but wasn't going to waste her energy looking back at them. If they fell behind, they fell behind.

They passed through the town, attracting some odd looks; finally, Uncle stopped at the door of what looked like a flower shop, taking a piece of paper out of his sleeve. After looking from it to the sign, he nodded to himself, opening the door. 

Azula followed him inside, wondering why on earth they were at a _flower shop._ It was the middle of winter, how many flowers could be growing here? And it wasn't like there was money going towards importing them — if there was, then these people needed to get their priorities straight. 

To no surprise, the shelves were empty except for a few small arrangements, and bunches of dried flowers hanging from the ceiling. Behind the counter stood a woman, probably mid-thirties, with leaves stuck in her loose hair. She looked up from the scroll she was reading upon hearing the bell, and smiled widely. 

"Iroh. It's good to see you again," she said, rolling up her scroll and bowing. Uncle's smile was just as wide. 

"Truly, it is a pleasure seeing you again, too, Natsuko." He bowed, probably lower than he should have given his station, and Azula scowled. The woman — Natsuko — turned her eyes toward Azula, still smiling. 

"I take it you're the niece I've heard about," she said, bowing. "I'm honored to be visited by the Fire Princess." 

_You should be,_ Azula thought. "It's a pleasure to be here," she lied, smiling. "Such a... _quaint_ town." 

That was a useful word to let people know you disliked their place without being rude. If they were stupid enough, the barb would go right over their head sometimes. 

Natsuko smiled, overly sweet, and leaned down. "You sure are a _character,_ little one."

Ah, good. Natsuko was fluent. 

Uncle Iroh smiled, seeming oblivious. "How would you like a game of Pai Sho, Natsuko? Perhaps Azula might even go a few rounds."

Azula tried not to let her distaste show. She'd outgrown board games years ago — as soon as she'd figured out how to sneak into the war room and hear _actual_ battle plans. Those high stakes made moving around bits of wood on a board seem like child's play.

But the alternative was sitting and waiting for these two to finish up, and she'd have nothing to do. And once Uncle started a game of Pai Sho, it could go on for _hours._ She'd seen it happen. 

"That sounds wonderful," she said, clasping her hands behind her back. "I'd love to play." 

A silly voice in her head suggested she could _pretend_ the pieces were soldiers she was directing. She quickly pushed _that_ thought aside — if Azula started listening to fanciful thoughts like that, she'd be no better than Zuko. 

Oh, well. Plain old, boring pieces would have to do. 

~

"I made the pieces myself, using the branches I'd pruned from my favorite tree," Natsuko said proudly, setting the large board on the table. "Used my bending to engrave the symbols."

She picked up a tile, turning it in her fingers. Smooth bark still encircled the tile, like it had been cut from a young branch, and the flower design on the sides was burned into the wood using precise firebending, rather than painted on like most sets. 

Azula tapped her fingers impatiently on the board. "How interesting," she said dryly. _Is this woman really bragging to me about how she had to make her own Pai Sho game?_ "Shall we get started?" 

"The guest makes the first move." Natsuko waved a hand toward Azula's side of the board. Azula held back an _'I know that, dum-dum,'_ because, from experience, Uncle didn't like it when she was impolite. Instead, she scrutinized the pieces before picking out one at random. _Might as well make this challenging._

"Ahh," Natsuko said, with an enigmatic look towards Uncle before she looked at Azula. "I see you favor the White Lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways." 

_Well, what the everloving blazes did that mean?_ Azula stared at the woman, feeling her own face twist in confusion. Natsuko's smile slowly dropped. 

"Or," she said, chuckling. "Or, maybe you just liked that piece, that's fair. Um, it's my turn, right?"

The rest of the game went by without any other weird (slightly cult-ish sounding) statements. Azula won, but it kind of felt like the woman was going easy on her. She turned the board over to Uncle, and left; exploring the town would at least be more productive than this. 


End file.
